Tempest
by Rhino7
Summary: Pre-KH1. There’s always a silence before the storm. For Riku, Kairi, and Sora, that silence is growing all too loud and they have to ask themselves, which is more dangerous? The storm that you can see, or the one that lurks under the surface? onesided SK
1. Terrible Tuesday

**Tempest**

**By Rhino7**

**Disclaimer: Hark! I have returned! I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This storyline is mine. This story takes place about a year before Kingdom Hearts I. Hehe, as usual for me, weird first chapter. Kind reviews welcome and appreciated!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter One: Terrible Tuesday**

Whoever said Monday was the worst day of the week obviously didn't survive to see Tuesday, because Tuesdays were just as bad as Mondays. That was Sora's opinion at the end of said bad day. Then again, good days themselves were hard to come by when you were a seventh grader at Destiny Islands Junior High. They were even scarcer when you were the loser of the school. Sigh.

The day started innocently enough. That was the first warning.

Sora left his house Tuesday morning, walking to school with his neighbor Tidus.

"Then, while the fire alarms are going off, I'll sneak into the principle's office and—Hey, Selphie." Tidus stood straight, waving.

The brown haired girl glanced their way. "Ew." She remarked, walking away.

Tidus hung his thumbs in his belt loops, "She digs me."

"Yeah, right." Sora snorted, heading up the steps into the school.

Tidus trundled off to where Wakka was talking to some other eighth graders, the rulers of the school. Sora hated eighth graders too. Tuesdays and eighth graders: the world would be better without them.

He kept his head down as he shuffled over to his locker, inconveniently in the middle of the hallway where the crowd was thickest and least civilized. First hour was Algebra with Mrs. Puzeki. Sora swore that hook nosed old lady was determined to fail him. He bet he'd flunked the test Friday, and he blamed her. Sure, studying would have helped, but that devil woman was out to get him!

Grudgingly, Sora pulled out his books for his first three periods and stuffed them into his backpack. No sooner had he done this than someone collided with his shoulder. The books toppled to the floor, splaying out in all directions.

"I think you dropped something." Came a grunt.

Sora looked up in time to see Trent McGwire puff up his shoulders, looking pompous and proud of himself. There was no need to ask who'd pushed Sora down.

"Wow, good job." Sora said, picking up a few of the books, "You actually hit me while I was standing still. You get a gold star."

Trent's grin turned into a scowl, "Shut up, dork."

"And we've graduated to name calling I see." Sora remarked quietly, reaching for one of the books.

Trent stepped on said book, kicking it across the hall, "I said shut up, bean pole."

"Bean pole? You're truly gifted in the art of name calling. Take another gold star." Sora said.

He knew he was digging a grave here, but it was too fun to watch Trent's face boil.

"Trent, come on." Riku yelled a little farther up the hall.

Sora made a sour face as Trent glanced at him. "Watch yourself, dork." Trent threatened, knocking the books out of Sora's hands again before marching off.

Sora watched Trent amble over to where Riku was standing with a few other eighth graders. Add another thing to Sora's hate list: Riku. The cool, suave, athletic, smart…butthead. Sora stuck his tongue out at their backs, restarting his mission of picking up his books.

Riku was just a jerk. Sora had been on friendly terms with him up until elementary school, then the cards of fate decided Riku was cool and Sora wasn't, dropping them in separate sections of the social hierarchy of junior high. Sora had disliked him for that ever since. At least he wasn't knocking Sora's books down. Then again, he wasn't exactly making Trent stop, was he?

As the 'cool ones' moved away, Riku glanced back, seemingly absentmindedly. Sora took the opportunity to glare at him. For a moment, Riku looked apologetic, but then he was following his other cool friends to class. Jerk.

Sora continued to pick up his books, which had managed to fly pretty far in their attempt to escape him. Passersby skirted around him, either ignoring him completely or smirking as they passed. He couldn't find his history book, the one Trent had kicked away. As he looked around, it was suddenly dangling in front of his face.

"World Civilization? I have this class. It's a real pain, isn't it?" A soft voice asked.

Fingers were holding onto the book. The fingers were connected to a hand, to an arm, to a shoulder, which led to the gently smiling face of Kairi. Had she just spoken to him?

"Guh…" He sputtered stupidly.

Kairi giggled, her blue eyes glittering, "This IS yours, isn't it?"

She WAS talking to him! "Huh…" He stammered, then shook his head to clear it, "Yeah—Yes, it's mine. Thanks." He took it from her, stashing it into his backpack.

Kairi looked up the hall, her bob cut red hair swishing against her cheek, "Trent is a real jerk. He's worse when he's around his jerky friends. Are you okay?" She asked, looking at him again.

Sora blinked, fully aware that his mouth was hanging open and doing nothing to correct it. "Yeah, swimmingly."

Kairi giggled again as the bell rang for first hour. "Oh, I better go. Bye—"

"Dur—Sora."

"Bye, Sora." She hurried up the hall, where Selphie was waving for her to pick up the pace.

Sora, for his part, just stood there as the halls emptied. Kairi had just talked to him! Kairi, one of the most popular girls, and the prettiest girl, in school. He waved.

"Bye…Kairi." He said, even though she'd gone into a classroom several seconds before.

Sora snapped back to himself and shouldered his backpack, pushing his locker closed and walking to first hour.

"Swimmingly?" He muttered a loud, "That's the best you could come up with? Man, you disgust me." He slapped himself. "Swimmingly, oh geez."

"You're late." Mrs. Puzeki regarded him over horn rimmed glasses.

I'm aware of that, Sora thought, but said, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Puzeki."

She rolled her eyes, waving him to his seat as she passed out the graded tests. Hark! He hadn't failed, but earned a D. Not much better, but it wasn't an F. Something told him his parents wouldn't have the same mindset.

"Now, as you all are aware, it's hurricane season." Mrs. Puzeki said in her nasal voice. "Which means we'll be running emergency drills over the next two weeks. Remember—"

Sora zoned out, resting his chin in his hand on the desk. What would it be like to see Mrs. Puzeki and Riku fight? Riku would win—well, Sora didn't know, Puzeki had lived with the dinosaurs, surely she knew how to fight somebody…with her homework of doom attack or something…He got a visual of Riku being buried until mountains of homework and grinned.

Sora put himself in the daydream, climbing the mountain and sticking a flag pole into the peak, like some triumphant explorer, while Riku twitched under the books and Mrs. Puzeki flapped around like some oversized bat. Kairi waltzed into the scene, beaming and giggling, her eyes shining and her hair moving in some mystery wind.

Something jabbed into his back and he pitched forward. Tidus sat behind him and had kicked him for some reason. That reason became obvious.

"Are you with us, son?" Mrs. Puzeki asked, staring at him.

"Yes." Sora answered as everyone looked at him.

Mrs. Puzeki kept a beady eye on him for a moment, and then resumed her teaching.

By the last period of the day, Sora had devised a list of new additions to his hate list: Tuesdays, eighth graders, Riku, Trent, Mrs. Puzeki, blitzballs, cafeteria food, Riku, homework, lockers, school, and Riku. Sure, Riku never did anything to him personally, but he never stopped his little flunkies from picking on him.

Sora usually had Tidus to talk to during the last period, which was Literature, but Tidus hadn't shown up to class, so Sora just slunk into his usual seat, scribbling doodles over his paper instead of reading the assignment. This was the only class he had with Kairi, and she sat clear across the room, and gave no notice she even knew he was there.

Did the girl ever stop smiling? Or giggling? Or being cheerful at all for that matter? Not that he minded, she had a dazzling smile and a cute laugh. Swimmingly. He dropped his head on his desk with a thud, in despair.

The sound of fire alarms going off made everyone look up.

"All right, everyone, stay calm." Mr. Morton said, standing up. "Form a single file line and we'll evacuate the building in an orderly, calm manner."

Did anyone ever listen to these things? Everyone was immediately on their feet, scrambling for the door to the hallway. There was a great deal of commotion going on out there, so Sora walked over to see.

The sprinklers were going off, showering all who were in the hall. Several people were bouncing around, enjoying the chaos, while most of the girls screamed and headed for cover.

Sora spotted the alarm that had been tripped, right outside the principle's office. One of the teachers walked over and irritably turned it off as the principle's door opened.

"What's going on?" Selphie asked Kairi to Sora's right.

Sora craned his neck, looking out into the hall. Mr. Simmons was pulling Tidus out of the office by the arm, the perpetrator of the crime.

"You'll never take me alive!" Tidus was crying out dramatically.

"Yeah, yeah, come on, you." Mr. Simmons said, his expression deadpan.

They marched him by. A few people cheered, while others just laughed at the scene.

"I plead insanity! I plead insanity! Where's my Miranda rights? Selphie! Wait for me on the outside!" Tidus bellowed as he was led past.

Selphie put a hand to her face, "Oh dear."

Kairi just giggled.

When he got home, his mom was pruning her garden outside. "Hey, Sora. How was school?" She asked, wiping her forehead as he tromped up the stairs to the house.

"Same as usual." Sora muttered.

"That bad, huh?" His mom smiled when he glared at her, "It'll get better."

"Bleh."

"Didn't anything good happen today?"

"Tidus set off the fire alarm."

"Again?"

"Yeah…" He smiled slowly.

"What?" His mom asked, smiling now too.

"Kairi talked to me today." He said it as if it was a momentous accomplishment.

"Wow, does she know your name now?"

Sora made a face, "This is what I get for talking to you."

"I'm sorry, honey. So how was the conversation?"

Sora thought a moment, "Swimmingly." He headed into the house.


	2. Operation Revenge

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. I do own this story though. The madness continues! If you've read my fic **_**Summer of Snow**_**, the infamous Kelly managed to sneak in here. Just thought I'd throw her in for funnsies. Kind reviews always appreciated!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Two: Operation Revenge**

Wednesday started off okay. Well, better than Tuesday. Sora actually got a B on his World Civilization test, letting out a whoop in the middle of class. Kairi had laughed at him, but not making fun of him. She'd made an A on the test. Could she be more perfect?

Sora wished he could have had half as good a time in gym. They'd played dodgeball for the last week and a half, and he had managed to not improve his aim or dodging ability at all. It was eighth graders versus seventh, of course, so Sora's side was getting slaughtered. This was mostly thanks to Wakka, who seemed to have a sadistic fetish with slamming people in the chest with the ball.

Only the boys were submitted to the battle zone, while the girls played volleyball in the other court. Since Sora was usually the first target, he was out first, which meant he had plenty of time to watch the game. It wasn't hard to note who the girl athletes were. Kairi wasn't one of them. She couldn't serve, she couldn't pass, set, or spike, but she managed to be absolutely horrible at the sport and look like the star of the team.

The girls stopped playing about ten minutes before the boys did, since they took longer to clean up. Coach Brian blew the whistle for everyone to come back into the game again. Sora stood near the back, snatching up one of the balls and carefully aiming at Riku. Thinking better of it, he aimed two feet to the right of Riku, and threw as hard as he could. As expected, the ball zoomed two feet to the left of where he was aiming, towards Riku.

The older boy ducked, throwing a retaliatory ball at Sora. By some fluke of luck, Sora dodged as the ball harmlessly whizzed under his arm. Before he could revel in his victory, another ball smacked into his side, nearly spinning him in a circle. By the tone of Wakka's cackling, he'd thrown the thing.

Rubbing his side, Sora headed off the court again, glancing over to where the girls were taking down the volleyball net. Those who weren't doing that much were staring with googly eyes and permanent girly grins as they watched the boys playing dodgeball. Well, as they watched Riku playing dodgeball. Sora made a face and headed off the court. Another ball hit his knee, making him stagger.

"I'm out already!" He yelled at Riku, who just lifted his hands, smirking.

"Man, what do girls see in him?" Sora grumbled, plopping down on the bleachers.

He knew I was out, Sora thought, watching the stupid jerk throw the stupid ball to win the stupid game. He knew and he threw another ball at me anyway, because I can't be embarrassed enough. The time had come for some vengeance plotting.

"Hey, Tidus." He yelled as Tidus dragged himself off the floor after being grounded by one of Wakka's mach 5 attacks. "Get over here."

"What?" Tidus asked. He'd been in an ill temper since Mr. Simmons had given him detention for two weeks after his fire alarm escapade.

"I'm tired of those eighth graders, especially Riku." Sora started.

"Whoa, hey, we're not that great of friends, Sora. We're not about to have an emotional conversation are we?" Tidus asked, lifting his hands.

"No, you idiot." Sora groaned, "Do you want to be an accomplice in some revenge?"

"Revenge? He hit you with a ball. It's kinda the objective of the game."

"Yeah, well, I just don't like him. Why do girls like him? Hey, girl!" He yelled out suddenly.

A passing seventh grader with curly blond hair stopped and looked at them. Sora thought her name was Kelly. "What?"

"Why do girls like Riku? He's a jerk."

Kelly glanced from Sora to Riku and back to Sora, her cheeks reddening. "He's cute."

"Cute?" Sora lifted an eyebrow.

Kelly blushed further, "He's really cute and…and cool."

"Cute and cool? He's a jerk!"

Kelly huffed, "You asked me a question and I answered you. Stupid boy." She marched off.

Tidus tilted his head, "You really have a way with women."

Sora looked up, "I'm sorry, what was the last thing Selphie said to you?"

Tidus frowned and shoved him off the bleachers.

"No need to be nasty, Casanova." Sora stood up as the bell signaled the end of gym class. "So are you in or not?"

"Yeah, any way to terrorize eighth graders." Tidus shrugged.

After school and after night had fallen, Sora and Tidus snuck behind the bushes around Riku's house. It was a half moon night, and no stars were visible past the clouds, so they were virtually invisible. Sora still found the urge to duck under the bushes, just in case.

"Toilet paper?" He asked.

"Check." Tidus said, looking in the backpack they'd brought.

"Shaving cream?"

"Check."

"Plastic wrap?"

"Check. Hey, what's the spray paint for?"

"Just in case I get creative later on."

"Oh…right…"

"All right. Let Operation Take Revenge on Riku Because He's Stupid begin!" Sora said.

"Why can't we just call it Operation Revenge?" Tidus asked.

"Because! Don't mess with my mojo here."

"Whatever, man."

Sora took two rolls of toilet paper and jumped out from under the bushes, ducking and rolling dramatically up behind a tree on the property. He lifted two fingers to his eyes and then pointed them at the house, "I'm going in."

He ducked and rolled again out onto the grass, coming up in a crouched position, toilet paper in hand. Tidus stood and walked out from behind the bushes, "You're an idiot."

They started throwing the toilet paper over the trees, bushes, cars, and everything else. After Sora had satisfactorily layered the cars, Tidus went around and plastic wrapped them all. Sora draped the bushes in shaving cream and drew designs on the sidewalk.

They hurried around for about half an hour, covering everything in toilet paper or shaving cream or plastic wrap or a combination of the three. Tidus even tied a little toilet paper bow on the mailbox.

After a while, Tidus straightened up, "That's it, man. We're out of ammunition."

Sora checked his watch. It read almost ten o'clock.

"I think that's pretty good." Tidus said, nestling the empty rolls on the low hanging tree branches.

Sora surveyed their work. If they were lucky, they might get a light rain later, making the toilet paper even harder to clean up. He grinned wryly. Take that, jerk, he thought.

Again, victory was cut short.

With a short squirt, a series of sprinklers sprayed to life, flinging water in all directions. Sora took the squirts of water in stride, still grinning. Tidus, however, had been bending over, and took a shot to the face. With a cry of surprise, he fell backwards.

"Will you shut up?!" Sora snapped as the porch lights came on.

He and Tidus both froze. Then Tidus scrambled to his feet, "Run, man!" He took off.

Sora snatched up his backpack and started to run. The front door opened, spilling light out onto the terrorized lawn.

"Hey!" Riku's father's voice boomed.

Sora stumbled over his feet and splayed out on the ground, landing on one of his own shaving cream creations, splattering it all over his front.

"Sora?" Riku was there now, though he sounded more amused than his father.

Sora jumped to his feet and made a run for it. The sprinklers sent water into his face and he changed direction.

This was an unwise decision as this new direction put a large tree in his path. Sora ran face first into the tree, spinning off of it and landing in the prickly bushes.

Still trying to escape, Sora thrashed, trying to free himself from the bushes' wrath. Just as he disentangled himself and found his feet, he tripped over his feet again and landed on his stomach in the middle of the drive way.

Defeated, he just lay there for a moment, cursing the gods. He started to get up and turned around. A jet of cold water ambushed him.

Riku was standing a few yards away, gardening hose in hand, spraying him.

"Ow! Hey! Stop it!" Sora shielded himself, trying to shimmy away.

"What? This?" Riku aimed the hose more directly at him, increasing the water pressure.

"Yeah, hey! Stop it! I'm sorry!"

Riku finished hosing him off until all of the shaving cream that Sora had splattered on himself was gone. "Just so you know, usually, when you teepee someone, you want to be quiet so they don't hear you."

"Great advice. Thanks a lot." Sora said bitterly, pushing his drenched hair out of his face.

Riku smirked, standing there all casual and nonchalant, as if hosing people down on the sidewalk was an everyday thing. Maybe it was for him.

"Feel better?" Riku offered, hands on his hips now.

Sora grumbled incoherently, trying to wring out the bottom of his shirt.

"What's your problem?" Riku asked.

Sora glared at him, "You're my problem."

Riku frowned, but then shrugged, "I had every right to hose you down. I mean, you WERE teepeeing my house."

"Yeah, and have fun cleaning that up!" Sora snapped, still triumphant, despite getting caught.

Riku tilted his head, "I've got an idea."

Sora had the urge to tell him where he could stick his idea, but he just shouldered his backpack and half turned to walk away.

"Hear me out. You clean all this up, and I won't beat you up for this."

"No way! You'll have to catch me first!"

"Sora, you know you're the slowest runner at school, right?" Riku said flatly.

Sora made a face, "Well you're—"

Before he could finish his insult, Riku's dad yelled, "Riku, did you get him?"

Riku turned to answer. Sora saw his opportunity and took off like a bat out of hell, running for his life down the sidewalk. He glanced back once and saw Riku glaring after him.

"Have fun cleaning that up, loser!" Sora yelled over his shoulder.

He promptly continued to run like his life depended on it all the way home.

As he snuck back into his room, he dried off and changed out of his wet clothes.

Operation Take Revenge on Riku Because He's Stupid: Accomplished.


	3. Backfire

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. When we last left Sora, he had reached a peak of stupidity. Will he recover, or keep climbing that mountain? Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Three: Backfire**

"Sora, it's almost time for school. Are you ready?" His mom yelled up the stairs.

"I'm not going!" Sora yelled back.

"It's Picture Day for the yearbook!"

"That's why I'm not going!"

Sora heard his mom's footsteps coming up the stairs. They had this argument every Picture Day, but this time it was dire. He looked at his reflection in the mirror.

His left eye was red and the skin around it was bruised from his encounter with the tree. He had a small cut on his jaw where he'd met the pavement. And so far he'd found three leaves from the bushes in his hair. How could he explain that to his mom? 'Sorry, Mom, I was out cavorting with Tidus and we decided to attack Riku's house. Problem was, it attacked back. My bad.' Oh sure, that would go over well.

There were two brisk knocks on the door, "Sora, you're going to school."

"I'm sick." He feigned coughing.

"I stopped falling for that when you were six. Are you dressed?" She asked, turning the knob.

"I'm naked, don't come in." He said sullenly.

She opened the door anyway, giving him that why-are-you-being-difficult? look. Sora tried to cover his eye with his hair. His hair, for its part, stuck straight up defiantly in untamable spikes.

"All right, mister, what—What happened to your face?" She asked, coming closer.

"Nothing. This is my face. I was born this way." He said, trying to hide the bruise.

His mom made a threatening noise, "Sora Christopher, look at me."

Sora winced at the use of his middle name and turned to face her. She moved his hair and squinted. "What happened?"

"I told you. I was born like this." She shot him a glare and he sighed, "I—I tripped."

"You tripped."

"This morning. I was getting out of bed and I tripped and fell. That's all."

She didn't look like she was satisfied with his answer, but she shrugged and turned around, "You're going to school and you're getting your ugly mug picture taken. That's that."

"Did they teach you to insult your children in parenting school?" He said.

She rolled her eyes and left the room.

Sora finished getting dressed and his mom dropped him off at school before going to work. For the most part, he kept his head down and his face turned away from everyone, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Pictures took place third period, so he had two classes to figure out how to either weasel out of getting his picture taken or covering up the bruise. Of all the people he didn't want to see him, Kairi was the first. She was also the first to see him anyway.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concern etched on her face as she spotted his eye.

He pulled at his hair, "Fantastic." He replied flatly.

"Hey, Sora." Tidus swaggered in, grinning ear to ear, "Have a nice time with Mr. Hose last night?"

"Mister—who?" Kairi asked, grinning, if only softly.

Sora glared daggers at Tidus, "Nothing. Tidus is stupid. Go away, Tidus."

"Nice shiner." Tidus pointed at his own eye and went to sit down.

"Did you get in a fight or something?" Kairi asked.

Sora pulled at his hair again, "Not…really."

When third period rolled around, he suffered through the picture taking, managing to avoid the photographer's curious eyes as he shuffled off to class afterwards. He had a black eye, Kairi would think he was an idiot if she found out how he got it, and Tidus was making no effort to conceal the truth. How could today get any worse?

"Hey, Sora." Riku jeered from across the room.

Sora hung his head. He had to ask how it could get worse, didn't he?

Riku didn't look at all amused anymore. He looked ticked.

"What do you want?" Sora groaned.

"It took me four hours to clean up that mess you made last night." Riku hissed.

"Good for you. Don't you have a third grader to terrorize?"

"My dad nearly had a fit and the shaving cream took off the primer on my mom's car!"

Sora's apathetic smirk faltered, "It…did?"

He hadn't meant to actually do any damage—He didn't know shaving cream damaged car paint! Why didn't they teach you THAT in school?

"Riku, I didn't—"

Riku lifted a finger, silencing him, "You're dead." He said threateningly. "You won't know when or how, but I'll get you back for this."

Sora swallowed, not replying.

Riku stalked off, shoulders hunched.

"Wow. Way to tell him off." Tidus said as he walked by to class.

Sora groaned, banging his head against his locker and heading in the opposite direction.

School didn't seem like a safe place anymore. Everywhere he went, he saw all sorts of traps Riku could have set. Sora was really jumpy the last half of the school day, peeking around corners and stepping carefully, lest he trigger an attack of some sort. However, he didn't see Riku for the rest of the day, which was fine by him.

At long last, final period ended with the bell and he shuffled out of the classroom, heading down the hall to his locker.

"Sora, wait up!" Kairi called, walking to catch up with him.

Sora slowed, waiting for her, "Hey, Kairi."

"So you toilet papered Riku's house?" She asked.

Sora grimaced, "Yeah."

"And plastic wrapped his parents' cars?"

"Yep."

They walked along for a moment. She didn't seem upset or happy about it, and Sora didn't know what she was walking with him for, not that he was complaining.

"Why?" She finally asked.

"Why? Why not? He's a jerk."

"And throwing toilet paper all over his front lawn is going to stop that?" She tilted her head as they reached Sora's locker.

"Apparently not. He told me he's getting me back." He said, as nonchalantly as possible.

"Tch, I would too." Kairi said, smirking in good humor. She sobered, "What did he do that would make you so bitter with him?"

"It's a long story."

"School's over. I've got time."

Sora looked at her, "Look, Kairi. It's a guy thing."

She lifted an eyebrow, "Oh really?"

Sora twiddled the knob on his lock, putting in the combination, "Yeah. It's an epic tale of lies and betrayal—"

"But you did used to be friends?" Kairi prodded.

For the first time, he felt a flare of frustration with her, "I don't want to talk about it."

He opened his locker and started to dump his books inside…when something came out. A big, black ball of fur erupted out of the locker with a squeal, landing on Sora's chest.

"AH!!" Sora gasped, toppling to the floor with the thing latched onto his shoulder.

Kairi yelped in surprise and everyone in the hall stopped to stare. Sora rolled around a few times, seizing the thing with his hands and throwing it away from himself. Scrambling to his feet, he got a good look at it. So did everyone else in the hallway.

It was a little black badger. Its little fangs were bared and beady black eyes fixed on Sora. The guys in the hall all started laughing and the girls either laughed or screamed. Sora swiveled around, looking at his locker. How had THAT gotten in there?

The answer was soon obvious.

"What's this?" Riku asked, departing from the crowd and looking at the creature, arms folded. "Sora, I didn't know you kept wild animals in your locker?"

Sora clenched his jaw, getting to his feet.

Kairi was hiding behind her school books, her eyes scrunched in stifled laughter and her forehead was turning red from suppressing it. Trent stood between Selphie and Tidus, guffawing like an orangutan. Selphie and Tidus were trying not to laugh, but at least Selphie was partially winning that battle.

Sora wanted to disappear into the floor while everyone's eyes were on the badger, which was pawing around in the middle of the circle the crowd had created. Tidus wasn't watching it; he was too busy holding his sides, laughing like a crazy person. Riku wasn't watching either; he was giving Sora a look that plainly said: consider us even now. Sora started to call him out, but Riku turned.

"Come on. I think the show's over, guys." He waved.

Trent, still chortling, nodded and followed Riku out of the hallway, along with a few other eighth graders. The crowd started to thin after that, although Kairi, Selphie, and Tidus hung behind.

Sora dragged himself off the floor, dusting himself off, "Are you finished?" He asked Tidus.

Tidus wiped his eyes, gasping for breath, "I think so."

Kairi had composed herself already, and she walked over to where the badger was sniffing a dropped pencil. She reached down and lifted it up in her arms.

"Aw, it's cute." She said, grinning.

"Yeah, it's cute until it flies out of your locker and tries to claw your face off." Sora said, picking up his books which had fallen during the ordeal.

"You gotta admit, he got you good." Tidus remarked.

"Who?" Selphie asked.

"Who do you think? Riku, also known as Jerky McJerk-Face." Sora answered, snarling.

Kairi tilted her head, "Well, you did kinda teepee his house."

"That's not the point! I think he had revenge enough when I was attacked by his tree!" Sora fumed, pointing at his eye, which was still bruised and swollen.

"Oh, so that's what happened." Selphie said, giggling.

"Hey, can I have that?" Tidus asked, pointing to the badger in Kairi's arms. "I think this little guy might come in handy soon."

"What, you going to stick him in someone's locker too?" Kairi asked, handing Tidus the badger.

Tidus didn't answer, just snickering as he walked off, toting the badger in both arms.

Selphie looked at Kairi, wanting to leave too. Kairi looked at Sora, "Are you okay now?"

Sora narrowed one eye, "Fine." He said gruffly, then cleared his throat, "Thanks."

Kairi smiled and she and Selphie left, throwing back a "Bye, Sora!"

Stupid Riku, Sora thought, watching them go, I hope he gets a zit.


	4. Scars of the Past

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This storyline is mine. (Gets attacked by a badger) Kind reviews always appreciated!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Four: Scars of the Past**

The best part of Friday was when it was over. Sora managed to avoid any jeers and badger jokes all day, except from Tidus, who kept bringing it up. When final period ended, Sora was the first one out of the building and hitting the row boats to the smaller island where the kids hung out sometimes. Tidus wasn't far behind, but he was carrying a little cage with the badger in it.

"Why are you carrying that thing around?" Sora asked, frowning.

"Hey, don't get mad at Bruce just because he was stuffed in your locker. He's the real victim here." Tidus said, hopping off the peer where he'd tied his boat.

Sora lifted an eyebrow, "Bruce?" He remarked.

"It's better than Ickle Fluffykins, like what Selphie wanted to call it." Tidus said.

"You talked to Selphie? No, wait. Selphie talked to you?" Sora feigned incredulity.

Tidus pulled out the red pipe he'd taken to sparring with, "Hush, infidel. Let's fight."

Sora and Tidus faced off, smacking at each other with their wooden sword and red pipe respectively. Now this was something Sora actually could do with relative ease. Sparring came naturally to him. If he was a fish, swordfighting was his ocean. If he was a camel, this was his desert. If he was—

Sora hit the ground, his wooden sword skittering off to the side, Tidus's pipe at his neck.

"That's Tidus: 5, Sora: 2." Tidus announced.

"Down for the count already?" Kairi asked.

Sora rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself up. He hadn't even heard her approach! She and Selphie were tying up their boats to the peer, walking over. Tidus puffed his chest out in triumph, probably trying to impress Selphie. She seemed pretty focused on the badger, Bruce, in his cage off to the side.

"Why's he in a cage?" Selphie remarked indignantly.

"So he doesn't gnaw off my leg." Tidus answered.

Sora got to his feet, cursing the girls' timing. He had walloped Tidus in the last round. Why couldn't Kairi walk up in time to see that?

"Your eye is looking better, Sora." Kairi offered.

"Thanks. Yeah, my mom's looking forward to school pictures." His mom would probably laugh for hours, waiting until his dad had seen them before stashing them in their blackmail box.

"Oh, she won't be disappointed then." Kairi said, snickering.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Sora said, fetching his sword and sticking it in the sand so the handle stuck up in the air. He plopped down beside Bruce's cage.

"Aw, is wittle Sowa too tired to face mean Tidus again?" Tidus taunted, swinging his pipe around.

Selphie tilted her head, "What, you guys just, like, fight?" Tidus nodded. "Why?" She asked.

"To prove our manhood!" Tidus struck a pose.

Selphie pulled out a jump rope, "Really? Well, let's see how manly you feel once you've lost to a girl!" She swung the rope around like a whip.

Tidus smirked, "You asked for it!"

As they started to spar, Kairi plopped into the sand on the other side of Bruce's cage. Sora had found a stick and was poking it through the bars, nudging at the furry side. Bruce wasn't really that bad, you know, if he wasn't going for your jugular.

"You're plotting revenge, aren't you?" Kairi said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"You bet! I've gotta be a little more sneaky this time though." Sora said, tapping his chin in thought.

Kairi frowned, "Then he'll get revenge on you and you'll want to get back at him again." She looked at Sora, "Can't you see it's just a vicious cycle?"

"Well, I kinda like vicious cycles. They're vicious." Sora said, poking Bruce some more.

"What did Riku do to make you so mad?" Kairi asked.

Sora bit back a snappy remark, "What did he do?" He paused, watching the water lap at the shore. "He's like the tide that is always ruining my sand castles." He threw his stick at the water. The tide swallowed it up. He frowned.

Kairi hugged her knees to herself, "What did he do, specifically? Besides ruin sand castles."

Sora looked at her, "You're laughing at me. Fine, I'll tell you."

She turned completely to face him, her large blue eyes all attention and curiosity. Sora swallowed a lump in his throat.

"We used to be best friends, in elementary school, right?" He started, propping one elbow on Bruce's cage. "And yeah, we were dorks, but we didn't really care, you know?"

"I follow. Go on." Kairi gestured.

Sora rubbed his neck, "So, so it was all great. We ran around, fought each other with these things." He brandished the wooden sword before sticking it in the sand again. "We got along."

"What happened?" She asked, her voice soft.

"Junior high happened, that's what." Sora said bitterly. "One minute, we're beating each other up with wooden sticks, and the next, he starts hanging out with his other cooler friends. At first, I didn't really care, you know, I figured he'd get tired of standing around looking cool and stuff, but I guess he liked the lime light. Do you think he's cute?" He asked abruptly.

Kairi started, "What?"

"Riku. Do you think he's good looking?"

"Uh…what does that have to do with—"

"Is that really all it takes? If you look good, you're automatically in the cool crowd?" Sora asked, suddenly defensive.

Kairi opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking unsure of the best way to answer.

"I think that's stupid. Riku went to junior high, and all of a sudden girls are all…weird about him and always giggling and blushing when he's around. I mean, he's got SILVER HAIR of all things! That's not natural! What's so cool about that?" Sora fumed. He went on.

"It's not like he tried to fight the attention either. He started wearing all these sleeveless shirts to show off his arms and he grew his hair longer, like a girl or something." He tugged at his brunet spikes.

Kairi fiddled with the sand, "Is it so wrong to want to be popular?"

"No, of course not, and who cares about any best friends you happen to use as stepping stones along the way, right?" Sora said sarcastically.

Kairi frowned, "I didn't mean it like that. Is that all he did? Fit in? That's why you're mad at him?"

"No! That's part of it, but there's more." He scoffed, continuing. "So one day I finally confront him about it. It had been almost two weeks since he'd spoken to me or acted like I was even there at all. I asked him why he was blowing me off for his new nimrod friends."

"What was his reason?" Kairi asked gently.

"He didn't have one. Not one little thing to make sense of why he was ignoring me. Then it got worse." Sora winced, feeling defensive again. "He was kinda twitchy while we were talking, like he was worried someone would see us talking. How terrible would that be: hot shot junior high kid talking to an elementary school kid? I was just one year younger than him, but I guess that makes all the difference." He slammed his fist on the cage and Bruce snarled, trying to bite at Sora's pant leg through the bars.

"How did it get worse?"

"One of his brain dead friends saw us talking, that Trent ape. He was jeering about how I was so scrawny and how Riku could beat me up without breaking a sweat. He was yelling so loud, that everyone else around heard him and thought there was a fight. You know how that goes."

"They swarmed like flies." Kairi filled in for him, nodding in understanding.

"You can imagine how confused I was. We were just talking for goodness sake! Riku played it off, saying he wasn't going to waste his time beating me up, which I guess was his way of keeping me out of it. Well, I…I know I hide it well, but I've got a bit of an inferiority complex?"

Kairi let a crooked smirk grace her mouth, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

Her sarcasm was noted. Sora sighed, "So, considering me a waste of his time, that just ticked me off. So I jumped him first."

"You fought him?"

"I tried. I managed to get in one hit, but it was a lucky shot and he was taken by surprise."

"How'd it go after that?"

Sora hung his head, "He beat me to a pulp. It just wouldn't do to get slugged to the face by a sixth grader and not get him back for it. Plus Trent and the students circling like vultures weren't helping things. I know it's hard to tell, but Riku's a little more…built than me, so it was all I could do to keep my face in tact."

Kairi grimaced, "That bad huh?"

"Yeah, it would have gone farther, but then he pushed me down and I busted my head on the concrete. After that, the teachers magically reappeared and broke us up. Riku and I haven't had a civil conversation since."

"Never?"

"He tried to apologize once, when his chums weren't around, but that only made it worse."

"Have you forgiven him?"

"I teepeed his house. What does that tell you?"

"And he put a badger in your locker."

"Right. The vicious cycle." He looked at her slowly, "So…there it is, the whole sorry tale. What do you think?"

Kairi tilted her head in thought, "I think you should powdered milk his lawn."

"Powder—what?"

"Spread powdered milk all over his yard. When the morning dew sets in, it'll liquidate on his yard, sour, and stink like rotten milk for about a week." She started matter-of-factly.

Sora's jaw dropped, "You've done that?"

She winked, "You're not the only one who's been left by older friends."

"Yeah, but you're popular and pretty. You don't need older friends." He choked. Had he said she was pretty out loud? "Uh, I mean—look at me! I'm not popular…or pretty."

Kairi laughed, reaching up and unlocking the cage, letting Bruce out. "Thank you, Sora, I think."

Bruce scampered out of the cage, preening himself and obviously happy to be free. From where they were still attacking each other, Tidus spotted the badger being let free.

"Hey!" He yelled out. This gave Selphie the opportunity to grab his pipe, throw it aside, and slap him across the chest with her jump rope. He toppled backwards into the sand, taken off guard, where Selphie stood over him.

"Ha! Take that, Mister Manhood!" She yelled triumphantly.

"Hey, Sora, get over here so we can do some REAL fighting!" Tidus yelled, pouting.

"Okay." Sora took up his sword and jogged over as Selphie pranced over to where Kairi was, obviously smug with herself.

"What're you smirking about?" Tidus said, bad temperedly.

Sora didn't answer, but landed the first blow. Kairi was on his side, and she didn't think Riku was good looking. Maybe this week hadn't been a total disaster after all.


	5. The F Word

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Kind reviews always appreciated!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Five: The F Word**

The weekend found Sora, Tidus, and Wakka back on the smaller island again, sparring and goofing off. Instead of Kairi dragging Selphie along, however, Selphie seemed to be doing the dragging. The girl seemed to have become addicted to fighting, but always with her little jump rope. Kairi, for her part, stayed out of the matches, content to sit on the sidelines, cheering or talking to whoever wasn't battling for bragging rights.

They hung out around the main shoreline. Riku's crew had showed up a few hours after Sora and the others. Not wanting to associate with 'losers', Trent led them into the cove. Riku had stayed behind, not necessarily to talk to any of them, but just not to talk to anybody. He was sitting on the speck of an island in the shallows of their island. There were a few coconut trees here, but one paopu tree. Apparently that was where Riku staked his territory. It had grown sideways, the canopy drooping at a seventy degree angle from the trunk.

"Talk about an island of solitude. What is he doing?" Tidus asked between matches.

Sora picked at a few loose splinters sticking out of his sword, "Who cares? As long as he stays out of the way, he's just another tree over there. Come on."

Tidus attacked first, sweeping the red pipe at Sora's stomach. Sora back stepped, ducking to the side and holding his sword ready. He attacked next, swinging his sword in a downward arc, aiming at Tidus's shoulder.

The blow landed and Tidus staggered off balance. Before Sora could attack again, Tidus pulled into a back flip, successfully knocking Sora back. As soon as he landed, Tidus flipped forward, bringing his pipe down in the same fashion Sora had, knocking him back again.

Sora regained his balance, regripping his sword, "That move really gets old after a while."

Tidus bobbed back and forth, "Yeah, but you always fall for it, so why change?"

"Will you hurry it up?" Selphie called over.

"Right, some other people are waiting for the battlefield, ya?" Wakka remarked, holding his blitzball behind his head.

For an eighth grader, Sora thought, Wakka wasn't so bad. Sora's bruise from the dodgeball to the back was almost barely noticeable now anyway.

Tidus was running at him again. Sora side stepped, avoiding the charge, and swiftly slammed his sword into the small of Tidus's back, sending him reeling. Without pausing, Sora swung around, nailing him again in the shoulder before slamming him in the side, sending him sprawling across the sand.

"Woohoo! My turn! My turn!" Selphie jumped up and down.

Tidus rolled to his feet, "I'm not down and out yet!"

He lunged at Sora, bringing the pipe around. Sora dodged and rolled to the side, coming up swinging. He parried with Tidus, forcing Tidus to back flip again. This time, Sora got smart and backed up quickly, out of range. Tidus landed harmlessly in the sand.

"Stop running away!" Tidus flung out an arm.

"You asked for it!" Sora charged, ducking at the last second and chopping at Tidus's pipe.

It was knocked out of Tidus's hands and dropped in the sand. Unarmed, Tidus threw a handful of sand in Sora's face. Sora blocked his face and swung blindly. He felt the wood connect with flesh and heard a grunt.

When he looked back, Tidus was on the ground, nursing his jaw and wounded pride. Wakka was on his knees beside him, slapping the sand.

"One! Two! Three! He's out! Sora wins!" Wakka bellowed.

Sora hefted his sword to his shoulder, holding his head up and walking over pompously. "How's that flippy technique thing working for you?" He chuckled.

Tidus glowered. Sora dropped the smugness and offered a hand, pulling Tidus to his feet.

"I thought we said no face?" Tidus said, accepting the hand and rubbing his jaw.

Sora shrugged, "I didn't mean to. You threw sand in my face. Filthy cheater."

Tidus started to retort, but Selphie shoved him aside, "It's over! My turn! I get to fight the winner; that was the agreement! Come on!" She was bouncing in eagerness.

"Can I get a breather first?" Sora said, glancing over at the top of the beach.

Wakka was standing there, blitzball held behind his head, watching Tidus drag his sorry self over with a grin. There was a little black ball hovering on the grass terrace behind them. Bruce the badger seemed to have grown attached to them, sniffing at the blitzball and keeping beady eyes on Wakka's hair.

One person was missing. Where was Kairi? She had been right there. Sora frowned, looking around. He soon spotted her. She was…she was talking to Riku?! Turning to see the situation clearly, Sora saw there was no mistake. Kairi was standing on Riku's island, hands behind her back, talking to Riku, who had his arms folded, but was regarding her with a slight grin.

"What the…" Sora started.

"Hey! Eyes right here, buddy!" Selphie snapped her fingers. "I'm not waiting for you!"

"No, hold on. Why is Kairi talking to Riku?" Sora asked, pointing them out.

Selphie held her jump rope, "Why isn't she talking to Riku? Just because you don't like him…"

"But—she knows he's a jerk. I told her—"

WHAM!

The jump rope bopped him on the head, making little stars dance over his eyes.

"Ow!" Sora grabbed his head, "What was that for?!"

Selphie put her hands on her hips, "I tried to warn you! I had to sit through three rounds, now I wanna kick some butt!"

"Just…hold on a second." Sora lifted a hand. Selphie fumed behind him.

Kairi was talking now to Riku, who was listening. What could she possibly have to say to him? She told Sora she didn't think Riku was good looking. She had even called him a jerk! Well, she hadn't actually SAID he was ugly, but she didn't answer when Sora asked. She even talked about covering his yard in powdered milk! Did that mean nothing?

Sora felt the blood rush to his head. Great, he thought. I never should have told her. She's probably blabbing to Riku about how I'm still holding a grudge against him for treating me like the black mark on his pure cool record! She just pretended to understand and now—

Kairi turned and saw Sora staring at her. She stopped speaking and her eyes widened. She said something quickly and headed over to the ladder. Riku glanced to where Kairi had been staring. Sora glared back at him, and then past him, at the horizon.

"Sora." Kairi was walking over, holding her shoes as she walked through the shallows back up the beach. "Sora, I was just—"

Sora hunched his shoulders, "Just what? Chatting with Riku about how pathetic I am?"

Kairi pulled up short, "What? No. We're lab partners in biology class and I was asking about a project we're working on."

"Lab partners? You never told me you two were bio-buddies." Sora muttered.

Kairi's eyes flashed, "I didn't realize I was supposed to update you on who I'm with. Not everything is about you, Sora."

Sora sighed. She was right. She wasn't the kind of girl who would talk about him behind his back to his arch nemesis like that. "I'm sorry. I just—I don't know."

Kairi softened, "It's okay. But, Sora, if we're going to be friends, you have to trust me, all right?"

Sora looked up, "We—we're friends?"

She blinked, "I assumed so. Do you not want to be friends?"

"No! I mean—Yes, I want to be friends." He mentally slapped himself upon saying the dreaded F word.

"Okay then. We're friends." Kairi nodded, smiling again.

Sora turned and walked with her up the beach, just as Selphie lost her match with Wakka. Wakka strutted around doing an interpretive victory dance, while Selphie pouted, stomping the ground angrily.

"Whoa, look at that." Tidus pointed.

Sora and Kairi both looked out at the horizon. Angry gray storm clouds were boiling in the distance. That was right. Hurricane season was approaching quickly. That meant storms and other fun stuff like that. The clouds had already extended their dark presence to the sky overhead, though it was more like a rainy expression than a stormy intensity.

"That looks nasty." Kairi said.

"Guys, maybe we should head back." Selphie said, gathering up her rope.

"Selphie doesn't like storms." Kairi explained.

"Ya, it looks like it might get bad." Wakka speculated.

Selphie was already untying her boat, "Then let's get a move on!"

As if on cue, little dark blotches began to appear on the sand as it started to rain. Selphie whimpered, holding her hands over her head. Tidus frolicked by, kicking up sand.

"It's just water, Selphie."

"Shut up, badger-boy. I'm going home! Kairi, are you coming?" Selphie said, livid.

Kairi pulled her shoes back on, "I'm coming. I'll see you later, Sora."

"Okay, yeah. Bye." Sora said, going to pick up his wooden sword.

The rain increased from a sprinkle to a torrential downpour by the time Sora rowed back to the main island and walked through his front door.

"It's a bit wet out there, isn't it?" His dad asked, sitting in the living room looking over papers.

"Just a tad." Sora remarked, shaking his head violently. Sprinkles of water flew off his hair, dotting the walls.

"Hey! You're not a dog." His mom said, throwing him a towel.

Sora roiled the towel over his hair a few times after pulling off his water logged shoes.

"Yeah, don't track mud over the house either." His dad added.

"Oh, Chris, don't BADGER him." His mom said, winking at Sora.

"Haha, you're all comedians." He rolled his eyes.

His dad looked at him, "You do look like a shaggy dog though."

"See?" His mom pointed at him, "I'm not the only one! Who wears their hair like you, Sora?"

"Mom." Sora groaned, "I don't 'wear' it like this. I wake up and this is what it looks like."

"Well, you need to get a hair cut. It looks ridiculous." His dad chided, smirking.

"And while you're at it, eat something! You're all bone." His mom chimed in.

Sora glared around at them, "Oh, you two graduated with top honors from parenting school, didn't you?"

They just grinned at him, enjoying tormenting their son.

"Seriously, you need to take a shower. You're a mess." His mom remarked.

"But—"

"Or you could stay down here." His dad suggested. "Your mom and I were just going to cuddle up by the fire and talk about how much we LOVE each other…" He looked at Sora.

"Right!" His mom added, "Reminisce about our first date, and our first kiss…"

Sora darted for the stairs, "I'm going! I'm going! Stop it!"


	6. Moody Monday

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Blah, blah, blah. Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Six: Moody Monday**

The rain persisted for the rest of the weekend and the following Monday. By then, everything was well saturated and muddy. The choppy waters kept the kids from crossing to the other island for those few days, during which Sora just ran rampant around the village instead.

Sora decided to nix what he'd said about Tuesday being the worst day of the week. Monday was infinitely worse. First off, the rain seemed to get heavier wherever he went, plastering his hair to his scalp. The mud incurred by the rain caked his shoes and sucked at his feet with each step. Secondly, the soccer match set for Monday was cancelled.

It wasn't that Sora was a soccer fan. The bad thing about soccer being cancelled was that Riku, being on the team, was at school now. By the look of the team, they had gotten about halfway through the match when the lightning forced them to call it off. They were all soaked and covered in mud. Normally Sora would have enjoyed seeing Riku as a disgraceful, filthy mess, except that all the girls seemed to be enjoying it too.

Sora tromped across the school yard as lunch hour was ending, shuffling toward the muddy halls and his locker to get his afternoon books. The rain hadn't lessened in the least, although by now everyone was so soaked that no one bothered to carry umbrellas anymore.

The same held true for the soccer team, which were a combination of soaked and muddy. Sora made a face at their backs as they walked by, slogging over to his locker and opening it with lackluster enthusiasm.

A disgusted grunt made him look up. Kairi was shaking her head at a group of girls as they ogled over Riku and the other soaking wet soccer 'stars'.

"Isn't that pitiful? They can't find anything better to do with their eyes than look at that mess." Kairi muttered, standing beside Sora at his locker.

"Yeah," Sora grumbled, slamming his locker, "I can think of better words to describe it."

Kairi tilted her head at him, "Are you okay?"

Sora ran his hands through his hair in his final attempt at fixing it. Giving up, he shrugged, "Yeah. It's just this weather." He threw a hand out at the clouds, which were dark, angry, and nasty looking.

Kairi followed his gesture and nodded, "I know what you mean. All this rain is really getting everyone's spirits down."

That wasn't exactly what Sora had meant. He'd actually meant to use the weather as another example of how much the cosmos hated him and were always trying to ruin his day. But, pawning his bad mood off on the weather was better than coming off as a party pooper, so he went with it.

It rained through all of fourth and fifth periods, and there was no end in sight as Sora tromped into his sixth hour class. Selphie was squirming in her seat, staring ahead at the teacher's desk, determined not to let her gaze deviate to the lightning and rain lashing against the window. Every so often, that girl from gym, Kelly was her name?, looked at her strangely.

Sora was having a hard time not squirming too, but it had nothing to do with the storm. Sixth period was the class Kairi had with Riku, biology. He somehow knew that. Did that make him creepy? Sora unceremoniously dropped his head on his desk, not bothering to look like he was trying to pay attention.

Kairi had told him she thought Riku was ugly. Well…it was more like not attractive. Actually, Sora corrected himself, her exact words were 'you should powdered milk his lawn'. Surely that meant something. She didn't like Riku; she'd made that clear. Yet, as his mind wandered, all he could think about was that she and Riku were lab partners. Riku was a jerk. He was probably putting the moves on her right now, with his stupid hair and stupid face—

"Wonk! Wonk! Wonk!"

Sora jerked to attention in his seat at the sudden noise. Kelly giggled at him.

"That'll be the hurricane alarm." Their teacher, Mrs. Carter, droned, standing from her desk.

Selphie bolted to her feet, "Hurricane?" She glanced furtively at the window, just as a large fork of lightning lit the sky. "Okay, people, get movin'!" She scampered through the line to the front as they filed out to the hallway.

Sora ambled after his classmates. They were walked out into the hallway and forced to sit against the wall. Selphie was at the end, twitching and muttering things about her will and wanting to see the eight wonders before she died.

"She doesn't take well to storms, does she?" Wakka chuckled from his seat across from Sora, nodding towards Selphie.

Sora listened to the alarm, "Guess not." He looked down at Selphie.

The girl was rocking back and forth slightly, pressing her back against the lockers, all the blood drained from her face. She really was a mess? Sora frowned.

"See you later, Wakka." He said, standing up.

"Son? Sora, sit down until they turn off the alarm." Mrs. Carter instructed.

Sora pointed his thumb at Selphie, "I'm just gonna go sit by Selphie."

Who else would be sitting close enough to hear but Trent? The teenaged orangutan grunted in laugher and sent out a whistle, "She's a little out of your league, dork. Why don't you aim a little lower…like a badger or something?"

Sora opened his mouth, thought better of it, and just kept walking down to where Selphie was nearly hyperventilating. Trent's jeering followed him, but for once Sora didn't feel the urge to make a smart remark back at him. Instead, he dropped down in the space between Selphie and the wall adjacent to the lockers.

"Hey." He said, stretching his legs out on the floor.

Selphie hiccupped, "Hey. When are they going to turn the alarms off?"

Sora shrugged nonchalantly, "As soon as the drill's over I guess."

Selphie sat up sharply, "This is a DRILL? What kind of sick trick is that?"

Sora looked down the hall and spotted Tidus, who mouthed "It wasn't me!" Sora rolled his eyes as he sat back, ignoring Trent, who was still guffawing like a monkey.

"Ah, they gotta do these drills, just to…you know, make sure everyone's prepared." He offered.

"That's dumb." Selphie said, folding her arms defensively, no longer scared but angry.

Trent was making kissy noises now. No one was really laughing, but that oaf just kept at it. Sora gritted his teeth but didn't look at him. Trent called Sora a dork, yet it was Trent who was being a complete—

Trent's absurd noises came to a stop with the sound of flesh smacking against flesh. Sora involuntarily glanced down in time to see Riku's elbow disconnect from Trent's jaw.

"Ow, man, what was that for?" Trent said, rubbing his jaw.

Sora blinked. The biology class was filing into the hall now. Riku slumped down to the wall beside Trent, looking irritable. He muttered something along the lines of "She was upset, you doink." Kairi was a few students behind Riku, still wearing a lab coat and a pair of ridiculous goggles that magnified her eyes, giving her the expression of a severely startled bug. A few people laughed, and she just made faces at them as she walked by.

Kairi looked around and her overlarge eyes roamed over near his and Selphie's direction. She waved a hand and Sora started to wave back, when another girl five students in front of him waved. Kairi grinned and plopped down on the wall beside her friend.

Having half-lifted his hand, Sora snatched at the air a few times.

Selphie pulled her knees to her chest, "What are you doing?"

Sora dropped his arm, feeling stupid, "I—Swatting at a fly."

Selphie quirked an eyebrow at him, "You're weird. You know that, right?"

Sora offered her a crooked grin, "Yeah, I know. Are you okay?"

Selphie pouted, "Stupid storm drills."

Sora knocked his knee against hers, "Would it make you feel better if you hit me in the head with your jump rope?"

She shoved his shoulder in response, but she didn't look so put off now at least.

After another ten agonizing minutes during which the alarm droned and Mr. Simmons droned about safety and the effectiveness of order and time, they were allowed to stand up and head to their next class, since the drill had taken up the rest of their sixth period.

The rest of the day was comparatively less eventful.

Sora's mood hadn't improved by the time final bell signaled the end of the school day. He dumped his books in his locker and headed outside with the rest of the school into the downpour. No one was running from it anymore. They were all wet, and they knew there was no avoiding that. Someone, Sora suspected Tidus, had tried to lighten the generally sullen mood of the students by starting a water flinging commotion. The motion was short lived and died quickly. Everyone just wanted to get home.

Sora spotted his mom's dark blue car rolling in behind Riku's mom's car. He would have wondered why his mom was here if he hadn't been distracted by Riku's mom's car. The normally dark red paint was splotched in several places. It looked like someone had taken a giant white-out pen and doodled along the side. He felt a knot clench his insides. He'd done that?

"Hey. Get in." His mom was saying.

Sora snapped back to himself, "What? Mom, what are you doing here?"

She studied his drenched appearance, "Well, I was hoping to pick you up so you wouldn't have to get soaked on the walk home…That cause is lost, I see. Get in anyway."

Sora slid into the passenger seat of the car, where his mom had cleverly dropped a small pile of towels. "Thanks."

"Oh that's just awful." His mom declared.

"Thank you, madam?" Sora tried to sound more proper.

"No, look at Tara's car. Oh, who would do that?" She commented.

Sora looked through the splatters of rain on the windshield at the car ahead of them. Riku was piling his soccer equipment in the back. He glanced back before he climbed into the car and Sora felt the heat on the glare before Riku was in the car. All was not forgiven, in the car department at least.

"Ah, you and Riku still not playing nice, huh?" His mom was saying as she pulled away from the school.

"You could say that." Sora leaned his head against the window, staring out at the clouds.

"What did you do this time?"

"Me?"

"I've never seen Riku misbehave, so I assume you're the one screwing it up. Plus, it's fun to pick on you." She crinkled her nose in a silent giggle.

Sora groaned, "Contrary to popular belief, Riku can be a jerk."

She quieted, "I'm sorry, honey. Don't let him bug you."

"Easy for you to say." He grunted. The clouds outside were getting darker. Sora wondered what it would be like to have a real hurricane hit Destiny Islands. Nah, fat chance.


	7. The Fraying Thread

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Kind reviews are love!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Seven: The Fraying Thread**

Tuesday rolled around, and the rain was still coming in droves. There was no end in sight. Now, in addition to raining and lightning and thunder, there were harsh winds, which resulted in debris and tree limbs being blown from one yard to another, and strewn across the streets.

"We used to have a sun, right?" Tidus grumbled as he and Sora descended the steps from the school after another treacherous day at Destiny Islands Junior High.

The storm had finally managed to topple even Tidus's good mood. Everyone in the school was sulky, sullen, and irritable with the ongoing storm. Selphie wasn't even at school. Tidus had found this funny, thinking she was too scared to leave the house. It wasn't until Kairi had reprimanded him that she told him the real reason Selphie wasn't at school was because the road was too flooded outside her house. That shut Tidus up.

"If we did, I don't remember the last time I saw it." Sora shrugged, squinting into the rain.

He didn't see his mom's car and briefly wondered if the land around HIS house was flooded by now. Not wanting to linger on the idea, he shifted the strap of his backpack over his shoulder and started walking again. His foot found the most slippery part of the concrete and skidded over it, forcing Sora to flail his arms to regain his balance. He managed to grab a hold of the stair railing, ending up in the position an ice skater might make coming out of a twirl.

Tidus burst out laughing, causing a few other students to turn and giggle themselves.

Sora straightened, sticking his tongue out at Tidus, "Shut up."

"Hey, dork, you tryin' to be a ballerina or something?" Trent's voice chortled over to them.

Sora glared up at Trent and his other dimwitted friends, who were stationed under the overhang just outside the school's front doors. Riku was with them, and he was grinning, but not laughing. Kairi was talking to him. Even though she had explained why she talked to Riku, it still bothered Sora. It was like fraternizing with the enemy. Still, it didn't bother him as much as Trent's face was bothering him now.

"Yeah, care to share some tips, Princess Tutu?" Sora bit back.

Trent's smug grin faltered, "What'd you say, dorkface?"

"You heard me. Although I can't believe they'd have dresses in your size." Sora continued.

As Trent's face turned red with anger, Tidus edged away, "What're you doing?" He hissed.

Trent stood up, "You got something to say, spiky?"

Sora faced him completely, "Careful. You wouldn't want to actually make an effort."

Trent advanced a step, but Riku grabbed his arm, muttering to him.

Sora's temper flared. He was so sick of this! Sure, Trent was twice his size. Given, Trent had the high ground. Okay, Trent had a band of other idiots to help him beat Sora to a pulp. At the moment, none of that registered to Sora. It was like last year all over again.

Trent shrugged Riku's grip off his arm, glaring at Sora. "You aren't worth my time, dorkface." He waved him off.

Sora didn't know what possessed him to do it, but he found himself throwing his backpack down and reaching down. He scooped up the biggest fistful of mud he could fit in his hand, reeled back, and flung it in Trent's direction. Terrible aim as he had, the mud smashed into the wall between Trent and Riku, successfully splattering both of them.

Kairi back stepped away from them, startled. She followed the mud's trajectory back to Sora and looked at him as if to say "What are you doing?"

"That's it!" Trent wiped the mud from the side of his face, "You're dead!"

He lumbered down the stairs, and Sora knew he WAS dead, but he felt a twinge of satisfaction for it. Part of his mind was smug about finally throwing mud in Trent's direction and actually kind of hitting him. The other part was screaming at the first part and wondering whether he'd told his mother he loved her this morning.

Trent was sidetracked from his attack by Riku, who moved faster down the stairs and grabbed his arm again.

"Trent, come on. Not here. If Puzeki spots you…" Riku growled, pushing Trent back a step.

Trent glared daggers in Sora's direction. Riku turned on Sora now.

"What's your issue?"

"YOU're my issue!" Sora snarled, hunching his shoulders and jabbing a finger at his former friend.

Kairi hurried down the stairs, hearing the rising pitch of their voices. Sora decided he wanted to settle this right now. If he was beaten to a bloody mess…IF? Who was he kidding? WHEN he was beaten to a bloody mess, at least he'd know he had the gall to not take it quietly anymore.

Riku regarded him with a veiled expression, "Go home, Sora."

"No, you go home!" That wasn't juvenile at ALL.

Trent was seething, but remained where Riku had positioned him, three feet behind Riku, who was also looked exasperated. Sora glared, daring…begging for a reason to tackle him to the mud.

The wind grappled at their clothes, whipping their hair around. The rain was still coming in sideways and the clouds overhead were masking the forks of lightning, though the thunder was still heard, roaring through the air and making the ground tremble slightly. This was the point Sora would have imagined they started circling each other like this was a death match or something.

"You go home, Riku." Sora hissed, "You aren't worth my time."

Kairi pulled up short, probably dumbstruck by the sudden tone of anger and loathing in his voice. Sora himself was surprised, but he remained where he was, determined not to divert his eyes from Riku's.

For a moment, Riku reminded Sora of a panther right before it went for the jugular of its prey. Then, his eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to the side.

"Fine." He spat, sounding bitter.

Sora staggered. What? Had he just heard correctly?

Riku lifted a hand nonchalantly, "You know full well I can't get into a fight right now on school grounds. Neither can Trent. Not with the championship game coming up."

That hadn't even been close to occurring to Sora, but he fumed just the same.

Riku continued, "So you thought you'd be the big tough guy and try to pick a fight, knowing we couldn't fight you back. We'd be forced to walk away, which makes you look pretty good. Right?"

Sora opted for not responding. His deranged anger hormones were ebbing, and the sane part of his mind was desperately looking for a way out of this. He just HAD to provoke him, didn't he?

Riku's shoulders suddenly went taut, "If you ever want to hash this out without coming off as a complete coward and idiot, come and see me." He turned his back on Sora and started to walk away.

"Oh! Someone got OWNED!" Tidus jeered quietly, having magically reappeared now that there wasn't going to be a fight. He was sharply elbowed in the gut by Kairi.

Sora wasn't listening. He'd stopped listening when Riku called him a coward and idiot. Once again, the over reactive part of his mind took over, and he found another wad of mud in his hands. Once again, without thinking, he flung the mud. This time, however, the mud found the back of Riku's head dead center. Riku froze. Sora froze. Now…he was dead.

Riku had always been very collected and composed. He could control his emotions better than anyone Sora had ever met. Everyone had their limits though, and it looked like Sora had just sent Riku pole vaulting past his limit.

Riku whirled, "That's it!"

Then his shoulder was slamming into Sora's chest, tackling him to the concrete. All the wind left Sora's lungs as Riku landed on top of him, smashing him against the concrete. One hand gripped the front of his shirt, pinning him down. Through the stars dancing through his vision, he saw Riku draw back a fist, rage boiling in his eyes.

This was going to hurt.

Afterwards, Sora would claim he had meant to do what he did next, but it was probably more along the lines of instinct and a lot of luck. As Riku's fist came down, Sora wrenched sideways, managing to move his head enough to avoid being slugged in the jaw. Riku's knuckles smashed into concrete and Riku cried out. Sora rolled hard, trying to get away, and somehow his knee flew up and collided with Riku's ribs, successfully dislodging him.

Sora jerked off the ground, jumping to his feet and looking around for the most efficient escape route. Kairi was looking at him in horror. Tidus had blanched beside her, crooked grin frozen on his face. Riku was getting to his feet. Obviously he'd taken Sora's involuntary blows as return fire.

Sora couldn't get away fast enough before Riku was bearing down on him. Sora turned to see how much of a gap was left between them, a head start at least. There was no gap. Riku was on him again.

Only this time, Riku wasn't going for the tackle. Drawing that fist back again, with bloody knuckles this time, Riku came at him with a running punch. There was no avoiding it, except to duck. Even that wasn't such a good choice.

Riku had been aiming for Sora's jaw, and instead, the blow smashed into his temple. Light exploded in Sora's left eye and his knees buckled. Pain ricocheted around in his skull as he crashed to the ground again.

"What's going on out here?" Puzeki's voice, like fingernails on a chalkboard, reached them.

Sora's head was still ringing, and he felt warm liquid touching his temple. Lifting a hand, he brushed his fingers over the spot. His fingertips came back red. He looked up the stairs where Puzeki hovered like a skinny pterodactyl, beady eyes roaming over the scene. When he looked back, Riku was gone, vanished into the crowd who'd swarmed when the scuffle started.

Trent stepped out, "Dorkfa—that kid fell down the stairs." He pointed.

Sora sat bolt upright. This was a bad decision as little stars flashed through his vision of two Trents pointing at him. He got to his feet on wobbly knees and glared at Trent. A hand touched his elbow.

"You all right?" It was Wakka, having just walked out of the school.

"Fine." Sora muttered.

"Is that what happened? You fell?" Mrs. Puzeki asked, glaring over the tops of her glasses, condescendingly.

Instead of answering, Sora scanned the crowd. Riku was nowhere in sight. The rain was still coming in droves, washing the blood from his temple down his face and neck. Kairi was standing by Tidus. They both looked paralyzed.

Sora turned away from them and started shouldering his way through the crowd, away from the scene. None of the other students tried to stop him, although several of them stared at him and he could feel Mrs. Puzeki's eyes boring into the back of his head.

"Hey—" Tidus started.

"Sora, wait—" Kairi.

Neither of them pursued him past the circle of onlookers. That was good. He didn't want to be around them right now. He just needed to be away from it all. Away from all the stupid, idiotic, moronic…stupid people.

He didn't go home. He didn't want to have to explain the gash on his head to his parents. Instead, he headed for the pier, where all the kids kept their boats tied off. The waters were choppy, but at least no one would follow him to the other island.

The weather was getting worse, dark and nasty. It reflected Sora's mood.


	8. Tempest Breaks

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This storyline is mine. We've finally arrived to the pivotal chapter of the fic! (happy dance) Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Eight: Tempest Breaks**

Today was definitely Make Bad Decision Day for Sora. He had smarted off to Trent, a guy twice his size. He had provoked Trent and Riku by flinging mud at them…twice. He had actually gotten a few hits in on Riku, albeit accidental, but enough to earn a slug to the head. Then he had left without telling anyone where he was going. He had rowed out in a little dingy in the middle of a torrential downpour and potentially very bad storm. Now he was definitely stuck on said island until the weather blew over, which wasn't looking very soon.

"Stupid weather." Sora hurled a rock out into the choppy waters that kept beating down on the shore.

Sora stood there, ankle deep in sand, throwing things at the ocean…because that was going to make everything better apparently. At the moment, he'd decided the best way to cope was to just throw things, rocks and shells for example.

"Stupid wind." He threw another rock. "Stupid Trent." He threw a shell. "Stupid Riku."

The rain lashed at his skin, plastering his clothes to his body and flattening his hair. That's how strong the wind was. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in the turmoil of his emotions, he would have realized how bad of a situation he was in. As it was, he was just standing there, in the rain, almost being knocked down by the wind, and throwing rocks at the water.

The coconut and paopu trees were swaying dangerously back and forth in the wind. The paopu tree Riku usually leaned against was bowing submissively to the wild weather, the roots beginning to lift out of the island itself.

"Hey! Sora!" A voice was almost drowned by the wind.

Sora glanced down the beach and spotted Kairi trying to tie her boat off next to his.

"Kairi? What are you doing here?" He yelled, heading over to help her tie the boat.

Part of him was furious that she'd followed him into this mess. The other part was glad she'd come to talk to him. But mostly it was anger…yet another bad decision.

"I came after you of course, stupid!" Her arms were rigid at her sides.

"I couldn't just stay there. They're all vultures, remember? You saw them. I had to get away!"

"Then go home! Don't go sailing in the middle of a hurricane!" She slapped the back of his head.

"Me? You FOLLOWED me!" He yelled back.

"I had to! You were going to get yourself killed!"

"So now I'm getting us both killed?!"

They were just three feet apart, but they had to scream to be heard over the wind, thunder, and rain. Sora and Kairi just glared at each other for a second, catching their breath.

"Now what?" Kairi yelled.

"Well, we can't go back to the main island. That was the whole point of me coming here!"

"That's dumb!"

"Who's dumber, the guy who goes sailing in a storm, or the girl who follows him?"

"Don't turn this around on me!"

"Why not!?"

"You want to be angry with Riku, fine, but don't snap at me!"

"What're you two doing?" Riku's voice reached them.

Sora threw his arms up, "There we go! I was waiting for it! The cherry on the top of this BEAUTIFUL day! Riku has come!" He screamed in mock salvation.

Riku trudged over to them, not having bothered to tie down his boat. "Sora, what are you doing out here?"

"Getting away from you, but that didn't seem to work!" Sora snarled.

Riku pulled up short, "You have no idea what's going on, do you?"

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Sora wished he had more rocks to throw.

Riku threw an arm out, "There's a hurricane out there right now!"

"What?" Kairi cried out.

Riku looked at her, "I saw you heading out and I found out about the storm. I tried to stop you, but you didn't hear me."

"So you just decided to follow her? Well…welcome to the idiot convention!" Sora slapped his forehead.

Riku glared at him, "Sora, shut up. Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

"Oh please! There's no bottom to this embarrassment bowl! You made sure of that last year!" Sora jabbed a finger in his direction.

"What?" Riku looked genuinely surprised.

"Last year! Don't kid yourself, you remember what happened!" Sora yelled.

"Sora—I said I was sorry for that—" The rest of Riku's words were swept away by the wind.

"Well I haven't forgiven you!" Sora snapped.

A three-pronged fork of lightning branched across the sky, illuminating the entire shoreline. Kairi yelped and covered her eyes. The lightning faded quickly and the thunder rolled in with the roar of a hundred freight trains. The sand under Sora's feet quivered and the air around him felt tense and electric with the storm.

Riku was expressionless for a moment as the thunder faded, but he soon recovered. "Look, Sora, again, I'm sorry, but look around! We are in the middle of a hurricane! This isn't the time—"

"No this IS the time! Right here, right now!" Sora yelled with more audacity than he actually felt.

Riku was right. The storm was getting dangerous. They should be seeking shelter, not yelling at each other. Riku was always right, and that's what Sora hated the most. If today was going to be Make Bad Decision Day, why not make the worst decisions you could come up with?

With that in mind, Sora launched himself forward, tackling Riku to the sand. Riku had barely a second to react, but a second was enough. He dropped one shoulder, taking Sora down to the sand with him. Sora landed first, but kept an aggressive hold on Riku, forcing him down. They both rolled down the shore.

Kairi was screaming something, probably for them to stop, but neither paid attention. A large wave of hot, salty water smashed into Sora's back, giving Riku the opportunity to throw him off and pin him down. With a purpose now, Sora wrenched his arm free and connected his fist with the crook of Riku's neck. Riku gagged for breath, but kept Sora pinioned to the sand.

Another wave washed up over them, with more force this time, and Riku's grip faltered on Sora's shoulders. Sora wriggled free and drove his knee into Riku's leg, driving him away. Sora rolled to his feet, coughing up water and blinking salt and blood from his eyes.

Riku pushed himself up. His forearm was all blood and Sora could see he'd hit a coral patch. Kairi was still standing farther up the beach, still screaming at them, but all the blood was drained from her face and her eyes were wide with terror.

"Sora, get a hold of yourself!" Riku yelled over the wind, "How is this helping?"

"It makes me feel better!" Sora took another swing at him.

This time Riku was ready. He grabbed Sora's elbow and twisted him bodily sideways, wrenching his arm back until his shoulder cracked. Sora bit his lip hard.

"You're reckless and you don't think before you act!" Riku barked.

Sora jerked, but he couldn't break Riku's grip.

"You're unpredictable and you're always acting out and being stupid!" Riku continued.

To continually insult Sora was one thing, but to do so while keeping him in an elbow lock? That was just showing off. Sora tried to wrestle free, but he just wasn't strong enough.

"You are you!" Riku shoved him away with the last word.

Sora almost wiped out again, but managed to remain standing. He straightened and rubbed his shoulder, "What?"

"You're you!" Riku repeated hotly, "That's why you think I'm a jerk! You're you and I'm me!"

It made no sense to Sora, but another tendril of lightning lit up Riku's face. Sora had never seen that expression on Riku before. It was upset, frustrated, and furious, yes, but it was also…jealous?

Suddenly it all made sense.

Sora's eyes widened, "Me? YOU're jealous of ME?"

Riku stood there, glaring at him, shoulders hunched…looking defensive.

The notion was blindsiding. Sora blinked, "Why?"

Riku threw his arms up, "Wake up, Sora! You don't care!"

Sora flinched, but kept staring at Riku. "I don't?"

"No! Everything you do, you do because YOU want to! You're not cool or popular, you're like the polar opposite! You're at the other end of the popularity spectrum!"

It was a compliment very heavily disguised as an insult, and Sora wasn't completely sure what was going on now.

"So…all this time…you've been jealous of me because I'm a loser?" Sora sounded incredulous.

"Guys..." Kairi yelled.

"No one looks to you for anything! You wear your hair funny…no one cares! You wear the most ridiculous clothes…no one notices! You make insanely bad decisions…people let you get away with it!" Riku was screaming genuinely now, and not just to be heard over the wind and rain.

"Guys…" Kairi yelled again, frantic.

"You think my life is easy? You think having to hang out with Trent the Twit and all those guys is fun?" Riku threw his arms out, "I would give all of that crap up to just be myself!"

Sora was dumbfounded. Riku wasn't a big emotional person, so hearing all his thoughts and feelings on stuff like this was mindblowing. That's when he fully understood.

If Sora went off and blew up on somebody like that, no one would really be surprised, because that's just how Sora was. If Riku did it though, people were shocked. He was the well behaved, mature, controlled one. And he hated that.

"Guys!!" Kairi screaming, finally getting their attention.

Sora and Riku, both out of breath by now, finally turned and followed her gaze, out to sea.

The clouds had accumulated in a pitch black mass, swirling and boiling around each other. A long, thick funnel was connecting the sky to the sea. Lightning continued to branch out in spidery tendrils through the clouds, but even the roar of the thunder was drowned out by the wind of the massive funnel. The hurricane had arrived.

More than the hurricane, their eyes were all drawn to the ocean. The waves had been coming in harder and with more strength. That they had noticed.

What they had NOT noticed, unfortunately, was the twenty foot thick wall of water bearing towards the island, the one they were currently standing on, slack jawed and wide eyed.

Riku snapped out of it first, "Go! Go, go, go, go, go!" He grabbed Sora's shirt front and turned him around, pointing him towards the island, where Kairi was turning to run too.

It was dark from the clouds, but as they ran, Sora felt a shadow fall on his shoulders, and the sand around him darkened as the wave bore down over them.


	9. Rogue Wave

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This storyline is mine. Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Nine: Rogue Wave**

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Riku was screaming.

Sora kept his eyes on Kairi's back, chasing after her, farther inland. It didn't matter how far inland they got, the twenty foot rogue wave behind them was going to find them, and in only a few seconds.

The plywood plank that acted as a ramp to the upper level of the shore rattled with the wind, but it looked steady enough to run up in order to get to the caves beside the waterfall. Only Kairi wasn't running for the caves. She was turning towards the little hut built into the rocks on the right of the waterfall.

What was she thinking? That little lean-to couldn't hold up to that much water!

"Kairi, don't—" Sora started to yell.

Kairi glanced over her shoulder at him. Her pace slowed and she turned completely, her eyes swallowing the towering black death looming towards them.

"No, no! Keep running!" Sora ran past, swinging an arm around her waist and practically dragging her with him.

He started towards the ramp, but Riku's hand snatched his arm.

"No time, no time, get in here!" Riku dragged Sora, who was dragging Kairi, into the hut.

The door flew away from the structure when it was pulled open, and Riku pushed them inside.

"Head for the stone. Get into the stone stairway." He ordered.

Kairi stumbled up the stairs and Sora tripped after her. Sora threw an arm back and Riku grabbed his wrist. Sora helped haul him up the stairs.

Kairi fell flat on the stairs, "This—"

The stone shook suddenly and the stairs under them trembled, knocking all of them off balance. The three of them had just barely made it into the stone part of the hut when the wave hit. With a loud wrenching noise, the wood of the hut imploded under the weight of the water.

Steamy, foamy water, filled with splintered wood, blasted into the stairwell. Riku dropped over Kairi, shielding her from most of the watery debris with his upper body. Sora hugged against the wall, bracing himself for impact.

The water gushed up over them, submerging them completely in hot, salty water. Jagged wood splinters and chunks of plywood smashed over them. Sora ducked his head, the force of the water knocking all of the air out of his lungs in a mist of bubbles. Suddenly it felt as though a hot poker had been thrust into Sora's thigh. He cried out involuntarily, twisting in the water. More of the foam forced itself into his mouth and down his throat.

Kairi was thrashing on the stairwell, gagging and struggling for air. Riku was trying to push himself up against the water. Sora screamed through the water as the pain in his leg persisted.

By now the initial burst of water had passed, and deadening thunder rushed down the flooded stairwell, along with lashing wind and more rain. Kairi gasped and struggled to get her legs under her to balance. Riku looked up and down the stairwell, searching for any new immediate danger pending.

Sora was unaware of any of that. It felt like someone had ripped his thigh open, poured molten lead inside the bone, and then sprinkled lemon juice all over the raw nerves. Hot tears welled behind his eyes, blending into the water streaming down his face. He didn't have enough breath to spare for actual breathing. Too much air was being consumed by screaming.

Was his leg even still there?! Had it been ripped off by the water? Was it horribly mangled or shredded? It felt like it! Sora rolled onto his side on the stairs, trying to curl into a ball to escape the pain.

"Sora—Sora!" Riku was yelling, shaking his shoulder.

Sora's voice faltered and he coughed. Unable to keep up the perpetual scream, his throat settled for loud moaning and crying out. He tried to grab at his leg, to try to ease the pain away, but his palm connected with something sharp and solid. Nausea swam through his body. A piece of wood had hit him and was stuck in his leg!

"Sora, don't—" Riku pulled Sora's hands away from the wound.

Kairi screamed. Sora kept his eyes shut tight. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to look at it. The nausea was overpowering. He wanted to just lie here. Why was Kairi grabbing at his hands? It was getting hard to focus on which way up and down was.

Something brushed against his knee and that brought him back to full awareness with a yelp.

"Sora, stay awake. C'mon, we have to move." Riku was saying.

Sora didn't want to move. Where was he again? Oh, right, the stairs. Could he even move if he wanted to? The lower part of his body wasn't cooperating with his brain's orders. Maybe the water had cut off both of his legs. Heh, that'd be weird to see…He found himself giggling weakly.

"Riku…" Kairi stammered. She sounded terrified.

"He's losing a lot of blood. We can't stay here. Let's go to those caves. It'll be safer there." Riku was saying now.

"Wha--? Blood?" Sora managed to force his eyelids open.

It was still dark, but he could clearly see Kairi and Riku kneeling over him in the stairwell. They were both drenched and Riku's arm was bleeding badly. He might want to get that looked at…Why did Kairi look so horrified? And why was she staring at his leg? Sora lifted his head to see.

"No, don't look at it." Riku snapped his fingers in front of Sora's face. "Focus right here, okay?" He waved his hand around his and Kairi's faces. "Can you move at all?"

Sora fought the urge to throw up, "I don't know…"

"Well, let's find out." Riku said, hooking his arms under Sora's shoulders and hefting him to his feet.

Kairi jumped to her feet, holding her hands out cautiously, as if to catch him or something. Sora got halfway straightened before putting weight on his feet. His right leg held well enough. His left buckled in a spasm of pain and it was like his leg was gone again. He looked down before Riku or Kairi could stop him. The nausea tripled.

His leg was twisted sideways at the knee and slightly bowed, blood blossoming freely over his pant leg from the open wound on his thigh. The jagged, solid thing his hand had found wasn't splintered wood. It was bone. The realization that his bone was sticking out of his thigh made Sora's head swim.

"Oh…oh, oh—" He sputtered, all the blood rushing to his head.

Kairi's hands were over her mouth now, tears rushing down her cheeks.

Riku shifted, holding Sora upright, "Kairi, get to those caves by the waterfall. We'll wait the storm out there. I've got him. Go."

Kairi looked like she wanted to either protest or throw up. Instead, she turned and headed down the stairwell and out into what used to be a hut. Now, it was only bare sand.

All the strength was ebbing quickly from Sora's limbs and he swayed. He couldn't take his eyes away from his thigh, where the bone was very visible. Blood was staining his pant leg and the water around him. The nausea churning through his insides was unbearable.

"It—It's—That's my bone—" He stammered, "It's sticking out of me—"

"Don't look at it." Riku ordered.

Sora felt the feeling leaving his limbs and he started to sink from his upright position.

"Hey—Hey!" Riku jostled him, "Focus, man."

Sora shook his head to clear it. "Okay…okay."

Sora tried to stand up again, leaning heavily on Riku and making sure to keep all of his weight on his right leg. Sure, he could stand okay, with help, but there was no way he was going to be able to walk, much less maneuver, to the caves. Riku seemed to be realizing this too.

A flash of lightning illuminated the stairwell, lighting the blood glinting off the bone sticking out of Sora's leg. He felt his head swim and forced himself to look away, his strength draining again. Riku kept a firm grip on his arm. The light faded and thunder rolled over them.

Sora knew he was seconds away from passing out and tried to keep unconsciousness at bay. It felt like the stairs were swaying back and forth under his good leg.

"All right. We're moving." Riku stated, pulling Sora's arm across his shoulders, alleviating the stress on his leg.

Riku headed down the stairs aggressively but careful not to jar Sora's leg too badly. Every inch they gained was torture for Sora. Every step was like being stabbed in the thigh with a rusty knife. They staggered on the bottom step and Sora's knee knocked against the stone wall.

"Ah—" Sora's good knee buckled and stars of pain danced over his eyes.

"Whoa. No, Sora, hey—" Riku grappled to keep him upright.

It was too much. Sora dropped his head and vomited. Maybe passing out wasn't such a bad idea. At least then he would be numb. Then again, Riku would be left to lug his body around. He sure didn't want to do that—

Riku dropped his shoulder and pulled Sora's arm. Sora's center of gravity shifted and he didn't move as Riku hefted him up over his shoulders. Sora's leg knocked against Riku's arm, and he went rigid, otherwise his limbs just dangled. All Sora could do to protest this action was to groan.

Riku was already leaving the area where the hut had been and was heading up the sand to where the caves were. Sora accepted his fate as a ragdoll and looked around. Water was sloshing over the shore up to the top of the beach, some of it lapping into the pool beside the caves. From his sideways point of view, he could see where the paopu tree on Riku's tiny island was being further bent and bowed by the wind.

The sky above them was still ominous, a dark blue-gray color. It extended dark tendrils of rain and steam from the clouds, rushing to greet the smashing, choppy dark ocean. Lightning was still flickering above the clouds, forking down in jagged branches through the charged air. It was too dark to see the actual body of the hurricane, but it was making its presence known.

"Hurry up. It's getting worse!" Kairi's voice was barely audible over the shrieking wind.

Sora looked around as Riku carried him over. Kairi was standing just outside the cave entrance, gesturing wildly, the wind whipping her hair against her face.

"Go, get inside." Riku jerked his head at Kairi.

She mouthed soundlessly and then ducked into the cave entrance.

"Sora?" Riku asked.

Sora grunted, his throat burning from being sick. Satisfied that he was still conscious at least, Riku shifted his grip and started to duck into the entrance after Kairi.

"Watch your head." He instructed.

Sora wanted to send him a snarky retort, but he just didn't have it in him. If he had his head smashed against the stone wall of the cave, it would just the tip of the iceberg of pain that was hammering through his leg at the moment. At least it was just a hammer now, not the sharp, agonizing stab it had been just a few minutes earlier.

He felt strangely light and disoriented as Riku carried him over his shoulders down the tunnel. He could hear Kairi's voice, but the sound was slurred and all mush to his ears in combination with the storm raging outside. It was growing more difficult to keep his eyes open, and his limbs felt all tingly and numb. He wasn't complaining about the lack of nerve reception though.

He was vaguely aware of his position shifting. Hands were maneuvering him over a hard surface. The slurred speech around him was unintelligible. The dark unconsciousness was pulling at him.

Unable to fight the fog anymore, Sora let go and lost all awareness.


	10. Thawing the Ice

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Ten: Thawing the Ice**

"Bring me some of those vines over there."

"These?"

"Yeah, the thicker ones."

Sora's pulse was a relentless throbbing against his temples, almost warping his hearing. Consciousness was slow to drag Sora out of the darkness of oblivion. No sooner did Sora re-surface than he wanted nothing more than to crawl back under that blanket of numbness and unawareness. The wind roaring all around and the hammering pain in his leg didn't help to quell the awakening.

His leg was being poked and prodded and it was still painful. Sora groaned and fought a fresh bout of nausea.

"Is he waking up?"

"Sora, hey, you coming around?"

Sora turned his head away from the voice, "No." He mumbled.

"Well, humor has to be a good sign." Riku said.

From the location of the voice, Sora placed Riku to be the one messing with his leg. The wind was howling through the cracks in the cave ceiling, sending a high whistling shriek overhead. Under that noise, someone, probably Kairi, was scratching at the wall feverishly. Riku kept putting pressure on Sora's leg and it wasn't comfortable.

"Stop it." Sora moaned, trying to roll away.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, holding him fast, "Ah, ah. Hold still. I'm almost done."

"Is this enough?" Kairi suddenly asked, following the sound of something thumping to the floor.

Sora forced his eyes open. It was a swirling mass of color attacking his irises, forcing him to blink repeatedly to adjust. The ceiling was spinning above him and the ground didn't feel so solid anymore.

"Kairi, I'm tying a tourniquet, not weaving a full-body cast."

"…"

"I mean, yes, it's plenty. Thanks."

Sora's eyes finally adjusted and he focused on the vision above him. Kairi was kneeling over a massive pile of thick vines, biting her lip and frowning at him. Riku was working over Sora's leg, his hands and forearms were all bloody and he was shirtless. Sora had been spread on his back on the dirt floor of the cave. He started to lift his head to see what Riku was doing.

Kairi dropped to her knees beside him, "How are you feeling?"

Sora swallowed to clear his throat, "Fantastic." His voice dripped sarcasm.

"Okay, I need you to hold still." Riku said.

Sora started to retort, but realized his whole body was trembling, jostling his limbs to and fro. "I can't help it."

"Well try to." Riku quipped.

"Hey, let's split your leg open and see how still you can be!" Sora reproached.

Riku sat up and glared, "Look, if you keep moving you'll start bleeding again."

"Do you even know how to make a tourniquet?"

"I learned in Health class. This will have to do."

"Oh, well I feel better."

Kairi scoffed in exasperation, "Will you two please just shut up?!"

Both boys fell quiet, looking at her.

Kairi pushed her soaked hair from her face, "We're stuck in a cave on a tiny island in the middle of a hurricane! YOUR bone is showing and YOUR elbow is gashed open! The storm could have killed us and may still kill us and you two can't even be civil to each other. Gah, I've had it up to here."

Sora and Riku exchanged looks.

"Someone needs to learn to control their anger." Riku muttered with a smirk.

Kairi gave him a swift smack to the back of the head, "Honestly."

Sora averted his eyes. Riku turned his attention back to his hands.

Kairi sat back, "Can you two just play nice until this is over?"

Sora rotated his shoulders in the dirt, "I will if he does."

Riku snorted, "Fine."

"Fine." Sora immediately retorted.

Kairi rolled her eyes, "Fine."

Riku started untangling one of the vines from the mother mass.

Sora arched his neck and shifted his shoulders again, "Can—Kairi, can you help me sit up?"

Kairi blinked, "Why?"

Sora replied, "So I can see what he's doing."

Riku made an indignant scoffing noise, but didn't look up as he pulled out three feet of vines.

Kairi tilted her head for a moment, "Sure, I guess it'd be okay."

Riku held Sora's leg still while Kairi helped Sora maneuver into an upright position, propping him against a rock so he could lean back. A wave of vertigo overtook him for a moment, but he recovered quickly enough. His eyes fell on his leg, and the nausea returned with a vengeance.

Blood covered every inch of skin from his thigh to half way down his knee, dribbling into a red pool in the dirt. Riku's hands and forearms were stained red from stopping the bleeding, and from his own wound on his elbow, which was dry and no longer bleeding either. The bone was no longer showing through Sora's skin. That had to be good, right? Instead, Riku was tying an already sodden cloth over the wound, knotting the vines to hold the makeshift bandage in place.

Queasy at the sight, Sora tilted his head back against the rock. "So…how long was I out?"

Kairi sat on her knees beside Riku, closer to Sora's arm. "You passed out right after Riku set you down. You were only out for about ten minutes. Don't scare us like that!" She slapped lightly at Sora's arm.

Riku leaned back, running his palms and forearms down the thighs of his pants to rid them of the wet blood. Half of it was dry by now and stained on his skin. "That should do it." He said, pushing his bangs from his eyes. At the same time, a shiver trembled through his shoulders.

Sora shifted minimally, "Dude, what happened to your shirt?"

Riku just snorted, "Well, Kairi wouldn't offer hers and we had to stop the bleeding somehow."

Sora looked down at the cloth wrapped tightly around his leg. "Oh…" He averted his gaze.

All three of them were soaked to bone and the air in the cave was dank and chilly. Now that he realized that, he could see goosebumps prickling Kairi's arms. The gravity of the situation truly settled on Sora for the first time.

"Oh no. This is all my fault." Sora groaned, pressing the heels of his hands over his eyes.

"Sora…" Kairi offered.

"Yeah it is." Riku chirped.

Sora looked up sharply, "You don't have to agree with me."

Riku shrugged, "Well think about it. YOU came out to the island in the middle of a bad storm. YOU refused to come back when we had a chance. YOU ducked into that hut instead of the cave—"

"Hey, I was just following Kairi that time." Sora put in.

Kairi rolled her eyes, "You two are unbelievable."

Sora dropped his eyes to his hands, "Sorry, guys."

Riku waved a hand, "You don't get to apologize yet. Once we all get out of this alive, then MAYBE I'll let you apologize…many times…for a while…" He smirked.

Sora settled for sticking his tongue out at him.

Kairi exhaled in exasperation and leaned back, "Your elbow looks bad, Riku."

"Ah." Riku waved her off too. He rolled his neck to settle another chill that Sora noticed.

Kairi saw it too, "Are you sure you're okay? You don't look very good."

"That's just his face." Sora muttered.

Kairi shot him a glare and he lifted his hands, "What? He can get away with snide comments, but I can't?"

Riku quirked an eyebrow, "I'm sure I have no idea what you mean by 'snide'?"

Sora folded his arms, "Ah, phooey on you."

Riku chuckled and shivered again. Kairi looked at him anxiously and he laughed. "Really, I'm okay. If it gets too cold, I could just weave a sweater or something." He nodded to the ten pound mass of vines with a smirk.

Kairi hugged her knees to her chest, "I just wish this storm would blow over already."

The wind howling through the crevasses in the rocks overhead rose to a dull roar, silencing the trio for a good ten minutes. It sounded as though the worst of the storm had passed. Now they were just battling against the train of the hurricane. Thunder still rattled the walls occasionally, but at least it didn't sound like the cave was going to collapse on them now.

Soon a brief reprieve brought a relative calm to the air, and a trepid silence settled outside. Sora thought he could almost hear the choppy waves beating senselessly against the shore. He started to wonder how the main land had faired. Had the hurricane done a lot of damage there? What about his parents? Kairi's parents? Riku's parents? Their friends from school? A mental image of Trent being blown around in a cyclone ballooned in his imagination and for once he found no humor in the sight.

The silence was shattered by Riku snorting into his fist.

"What could possibly be funny?" Sora said.

Riku grinned, "You said 'phooey'."

Sora blinked, "So?"

Riku sat back, "Who says that? Nobody says 'phooey' anymore. That's like fourth grade-speak."

Sora frowned, "Shut up."

Riku made a serious face, "Are mad at me?" He asked mockingly, "Ah phooey!" He slapped his knee as he said it and laughed genuinely.

Sora narrowed his eyes, but a grin was tugging at his lips too. "Stop it."

Riku swallowed a smile, "What? You gonna throw phooey at me again?"

Kairi looked between the two as though they were crazy, but apparently decided not to interrupt whatever episode the boys were having. The chuckles faded after a minute. The moment passed. They sombered again.

"Sorry I'm an idiot." Sora said suddenly.

"Sorry I was a jerk." Riku replied without meeting Sora's eyes.

"Sorry I teepeed your house."

"Sorry I stuffed a badger in your locker."

"Sorry I ruined your mom's paintjob on her car."

"Sorry you're an idiot."

Sora clenched his jaw on the last remark and sighed, looking at the bandage job on his leg. "For the record, I don't hate you."

Riku snorted, "I don't hate you either."

Kairi threw up her hands, "Boys are so weird!"

Riku and Sora exchanged looks. Riku chuckled, "Ah, phooey."


	11. The Nightmare Ends

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This storyline is mine. Kind reviews welcome!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Eleven: The Nightmare Ends**

They each took turns dozing for a few hours. The three of them were too scared to try to sleep. Kairi had to have a mild concussion and Sora had lost a lot of blood, and hypothermia was slowly setting in on all of them, so they decided to settle for dozing. When one of them began to nod off too far, one of the others would shake or nudge them awake again.

This proved more difficult as the night hours dragged on, bringing the stuttering calm after the storm's passing. Sora was finding it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open and his wits about him, even with the slaps from Kairi and the sharp barks Riku threw at him.

The wind had fallen to just a constant whipping noise against the rocks outside. The rain was falling in gentle patters now against the surfaces, sending little drips and drizzles from the holes in the cave's ceiling. It was difficult to see in the dark cave, and building a fire was out of the question, everything was soaked.

Sora found himself, not necessarily dozing, but sort of zoning out. He lost track of time, where he was, and who he was with. At one point he was sure he was hallucinating. The chalk doodles on the walls were stretching and sliding through his vision. For a moment, he thought he saw a giant golden keyhole gleaming on the knobless door at the back of the cave. Then he blinked, and it was gone, so he dismissed it from his thoughts.

Eventually Sora managed to slump off his rock and lay flat, which helped to ease the nausea a little. He wasn't especially cold, just sort of numb and unfeeling. That was probably the blood loss making its presence known. Riku had stationed himself near the tunnel's entrance, slumped in the most uncomfortable looking position Sora had ever seen, struggling to stay awake. Sora and Kairi had less willpower. Kairi was curled up between Riku and Sora, huddling close to whatever body heat hadn't been stolen by the wind and wet chill.

Several hours passed this way, until Sora unwittingly and unwillingly fell asleep, with no one else conscious enough to nudge him awake again. It was a blissfully dreamless sleep, no thunder or waves or wind to corrupt nightmares. It was the first true escape from the hell around him in several hours. It felt as though he had barely closed his eyes when he was jolted awake by screaming.

Eyes flying open, he jerked awake just as Kairi sat bolt upright beside him, looking around in a semi-conscious panic. After a second, during which Sora's heart skipped several beats, he recognized the screaming voice as Riku's. He was gone from inside the cave and his voice sounded like he was out on the beach.

"Hey! Over here! Over HERE! Look at the jumping boy over here!" Riku was yelling.

Sora and Kairi locked gazes. Had someone come already from the main island? Were they about to be rescued? Sora wanted to give in to that hope, but didn't want it to be ripped away from him. Maybe Riku had finally lost it and was out there yelling at a coconut or something.

The loud, blaring horn of a boat ended that train of thought.

Kairi got to her feet, stretching and groaning as her joints popped from lying on the floor. Past her, Sora could see clear sunlight filtering through the holes in the cave's ceiling, sending a few brave rays of light down into the cave.

"That's right, over here! Geez. Hey, you guys! Get out here! Wakka's dad's boat is here!" Riku yelled.

Kairi took a step, looked at Sora, and cupped her hands around her mouth, "We can't come out; Sora can't walk, silly!"

There was movement outside and Sora pushed himself up, careful to move his leg the least amount possible, straining his ears for the voices.

"No, no, I'm fine—Stop—Listen, Sora and Kairi are in the cave—What? Yes, it's blood, will you focus?!" Riku was barking.

A few minutes later, an adult emerged from the tunnel and into the cave where Sora and Kairi were. It was Kairi's father, Paul, a mild mannered but firm man. His eyes widened when he saw his daughter and Sora could see the relief sweep over his face.

"Oh, Kairi, thank God." He pulled her close before she could say a word.

"D-Dad." She stammered, her voice cracking.

Paul held her out and looked at her, "Are you hurt? You're freezing. Don't worry, we'll get you to the hospital and everything will be fine."

"Sora? Holy—son!" Sora looked up fast at his father's voice. Chris followed Paul out of the tunnel and was immediately kneeling beside Sora, looking too afraid to touch him. "Holy Lord, what happened?"

Sora felt a rush of emotions, relief being the first and foremost. Relief, joy, terror, exhaustion, frustration, and fear all wrapped into one mess in his head. Through the mass, he managed to hoarsely stutter, "Hurricane."

Chris released a relieved chuckle and leaned back. "We need a back brace!" He bellowed down the tunnel.

Sora blinked, "No, that's not nece—"

He had no say in the matter as Wakka's and Tidus's dads came in and loaded Sora onto a back brace board. They were careful to tie his leg down so that it wouldn't be jostled.

"Where—Mom—the island—" Sora kept trying to ask.

Chris rubbed Sora's arm, "It's all right, son. Everyone's all right. This could have been so much worse."

Paul had thrown his jacket around Kairi's shoulders and was leading his daughter out of the caves. Chris and Wakka's father lifted Sora up on the brace, carrying him out after Paul. Tidus's dad followed after them, holding the flashlight.

As they left the shadows of the cave, the outside sunlight hit Sora's eyes like knives and he blinked repeatedly as his eyes watered. The sky was virtually cloudless overhead, and the sun was just breaking over the waves on the horizon. It was almost impossible to tell that a hurricane had passed through here just several hours previous.

Then Sora saw the island around him.

"Oh…" Kairi gasped, lifting a hand to her throat.

Everything had been destroyed. The pier was just gone. The hut was an imploded mass of splintered wood. Seaweed and coconuts lay scattered across the beach along with shattered plywood and fallen trees. Half of the coconut trees were bowed and broken open, and the small bridge connecting Riku's island to the small island was shredded. The lone paopu tree on Riku's island was bowed and bent almost parallel to the island itself, but amazingly wasn't splintered or broken.

Wakka's dad's boat was bobbing a hundred yards offshore, and Sora could just barely see Wakka and Tidus leaning over the rails, staring in slackjawed horror at what had happened.

Paul was leading Kairi to one of the three boats the rescue team had run aground in the shallows. Sora's dad was talking to Paul, keeping a vice-like grip on Sora's wrist, as though afraid he would evaporate if he didn't keep a hold of him.

Riku was just standing on the beach, looking around with an expression of mixed disbelief and total calm. After all, it was just wood. Everything here could be rebuilt. No one had died. All three of them had made it though the storm. That had to count for something. Someone was climbing out of the boats and then charging up the beach towards Riku.

"Riku! Oh, my BABY!" Riku's mother, Tara, ran full pelt up the beach and flung herself at her son, throwing her arms around him and almost taking him to the sand.

Being a short woman, her head just reached Riku's shoulder, and her arms locked around his waist. Instead of going stiff or looking embarrassed, Riku melted into his mother's arms, holding onto her as if for dear life and dropping his head on her shoulder.

They really had been rescued then? This nightmare was finally over.

Sora relaxed for the first time in a week and his eyes found Kairi's. She offered a weak smile and was then shepherded into one of the boats by her father. Tidus's father looked to Chris.

"Paul's going to take Kairi to the boat. I'll take Tara and Riku. Do you and George have—"

"We've got Sora. You go ahead, ya?" Wakka's dad waved him off.

They all quickly loaded into the boats and started paddling towards the larger rescue boat. Everyone was impatient to get away from the mass of destruction on the small island. Sora felt embarrassed and useless as he was carried onto the boat and then lifted off of the small boat and onto the larger one.

"Do I have to be tied down like this?" Sora grumbled, having been deposited on the deck.

His father sat close by, cleaning off the gash on Riku's elbow. He chuckled, "What would you be doing otherwise? Tap dancing on the deck?"

"Oh haha. My leg was almost ripped off. If it had been, I'd throw it at you right now." Sora snarled.

"Testy, testy." Tidus's dad laughed, lighting a cigarette near the port rails.

Riku didn't say anything. He just stared out at the ocean as Chris wrapped a clean handkerchief around his elbow.

"That ought to do it until you can get it looked at properly. Thomas is a little backed up right now." Chris said, tying off the knot and giving Riku a friendly slap on the shoulder.

Riku flexed his arm absentmindedly, nodding his thanks and resuming his staring.

Sora decided not to press the matter. "Thomas?"

Thomas Gale was the head physician on the main island. He ran a small clinic out of his home with his wife Kora. Sora's mother, Daylia, was a nurse for Thomas.

"Yeah, there were some serious injuries. The hurricane never touched the main island, but it might as well have." Tara answered, leaning against the mast with her arms folded.

Sora cleared his throat, "Mom—"

Chris lifted a hand, "She's fine. No one on the island slept any last night. As soon as the worst was over, she was out to help the injured. I came with these guys to look for you three. There's—"

"Chris—" Tara said suddenly.

Sora followed her gaze and his eyes settled on his leg. The makeshift bandage around his thigh had loosened, and dark crimson was glistening fresh and wet over the stained cloth. As soon as it registered that he was bleeding again, Sora felt his head swim and his vision slide out of focus. Inwardly he cursed himself. If he passed out from blood loss right now, in front of everybody, he'd never be able to look at any of them again.

"Sora, hey—" Chris knelt down beside him. Riku turned his gaze from the ocean to Sora.

The nausea returned full force and the rocking of the boat didn't help at all. Sora turned his head, trying to focus on his dad beside him. This was proving difficult, as his vision kept slurring together in a mass of indistinct colors and shapes.

"I'm okay." Sora mumbled, his words tumbling out of his mouth.

"We're just ten minutes from the main land. Call Thomas and have him meet us at the shore." Chris was ordering.

Sora closed his eyes, shutting out the swirling colors and falling prey to oblivion once again.


	12. A Clean Slate

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This story is mine. Last chapter! Huzzah! Kind reviews always welcome and appreciated!**

**..:--X--:..**

**Chapter Twelve: A Clean Slate**

It was a slow business, waking up this time. There was no sharp jolt of pain or loud yell from his friends to drag Sora out of sleep. He just slowly drifted out of his dreamless sleep and back to awareness. It was very quiet too, no screaming wind or roaring thunder, pounding rain or crashing waves to be heard. Instead, just a soft whirring like a small motor or a fan, and the low murmur of whispering voices.

It didn't feel like the rough, gritty, muddy cave floor of the Secret Place that he was laying on. The soft, cushioned surface on which he was resting was a nice change. It didn't smell like dirt, rain water, and blood either. It was pretty odorless here actually, with just a hint of that burning antiseptic smell. Without ever opening his eyes, Sora figured out he was waking up in the hospital.

His whole body felt heavy, as though lead had replaced the bone and muscles under his skin, holding him to the bed. He could feel blood pulsing with his heart rate at his temples, magnifying the throbbing headache that was setting in. His limbs, especially his leg, was delightfully numb, although he could feel a pressure encasing his injured leg. It didn't hurt though. Just felt weird.

Sora opened his eyes slowly, feeling groggy and heavy. He immediately closed them again, unable to process the bright light of the room. White walls reflecting bright sunlight from the window. He blinked a few times until his eyes adjusted, and then glanced around the room. It wasn't completely stark white. There were dark curtains and some flowery paintings that you only find in hospital rooms. He swallowed and cleared his throat. His mouth and throat felt full of cotton and sandpaper, making his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.

"Sora?"

He turned his head and noticed his mother standing beside the bed, her fingers frozen on the IV bag hanging above him. He tried to speak, but all that came out was the garbled mess of "Erm?"

Daylia's taut face split into a beaming smile of relief. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

What kind of question was that? Sora gave her a flat look and she chuckled, but it was a strained and desperate laugh which quickly died. She was in her nurse's uniform. She'd probably been working around the clock to help those injured in the hurricane. The hurricane…

"Kair—iku—" He rasped hoarsely.

Daylia reached out of his line of sight and returned with a cup of water. "They're fine, darling. They've hardly left since you were brought in." She held the cup for him and he lifted a sore arm to drink it. The cool water hit his dry mouth and throat like a salve to a burn.

Testing his voice carefully, he managed to ask, "When was that?"

His mom set the cup aside, "Two days ago. After you passed out on the boat, Chris and the others brought you here. Thomas had to operate on your leg. It took nearly 5 hours. You really did a number on yourself." She smiled and gently brushed his bangs out of his eyes. They flopped right back into place and she shook her head in defeat.

Movement on the other side of the room made Sora look over there. Kairi was splayed out on a small couch, her legs dangling off the armrest and one arm brushing the floor. She had her head tilted back and her mouth hanging open, looking like it was first time she'd slept in days. Daylia followed his eyes.

"Oh yeah, she was pretty worried about you. Her father kept her home all night, but she was right back here the next day and stayed with you. Riku's been in and out too, his father is here with a broken collar bone, so he's been running all over the place." Daylia commented, looking towards the door, "Speak of the devil."

Sora looked over to the door. Riku was just walking in, holding two cups of coffee and looking like he needed to drink both of them to remain standing. He had a thick bandage wrapped around his elbow and a small bandage taped under his hairline. He wasn't covered in blood and grit now, so that was an improvement. Riku glanced over at Kairi when he walked in, noted that she hadn't moved since he'd last been there, and looked over at Sora.

"Well, look who's conscious." He said, that same relief Daylia had expressed flooding his face.

Daylia walked over to him, "Let me take those, honey." She took the coffees from him and set them on the side table. "How's your father?"

Riku shrugged with one shoulder, "Restless and irritable."

Daylia nodded with a grin, "Sounds about right." She checked her watch, "I'm gonna let you all catch up while I go on my rounds. Sora, you need anything?"

Sora waved her off with a hand, "No, I'm okay."

Daylia nodded, gave Riku's shoulder a light squeeze, and disappeared past him through the door. It fell quiet in the hospital room, save for the voices that drifted in from the hallway and the slow ticking of the clock. Kairi snorted in her sleep, shifting to nuzzle into the back of the couch.

"So…" Riku started.

"Yeah." Sora replied.

"How, uh, how long have you been awake?" Riku asked.

Sora swallowed, "Just a few minutes. When was the last time you slept?"

Riku snickered, "The better half of a week ago." He pulled over a plastic chair and dropped into it backwards, rubbing his eyes before looking at Sora again. "You look like crap."

"Thanks. You're a right side of horrible yourself."

Riku took up one of the cups of coffee he'd brought and took a sip. "How are those pain killers treating you?"

Sora tilted his head and looked down at his leg. He could see the shape of a large brace set around his thigh and knee under the blanket. "I feel nothing, so I guess they're treating me pretty good."

Riku nodded slowly, appearing very interested in his coffee. After a moment, he spoke, still gazing intently at his coffee. "So, I don't know if you remember this, but during the hurricane, in the cave, we kinda started talking—"

Sora knitted his eyebrows together. It was hazy, but he distinctly remembered the point where he stopped being angry with Riku. "Did we—I mean—are we friends now?"

Riku looked uncomfortable, "I dunno. Do you want to be?"

Sora blinked, "Do you?"

Riku lifted his eyes from his coffee to Sora's face, "If I say no, will you teepee my house again?"

"Oh don't bring that up now." Sora lifted a hand to cover his eyes.

"Or should I say…will you ATTEMPT to teepee my house again?" Riku snickered.

Sora groaned, "I hate you."

"Yeah same here." Riku replied.

A pause.

"Friends?" Riku offered a hand.

Sora took his hand and gave it a shake, "Friends."

Riku sipped at his coffee again, "Who knows, maybe we'll end up close friends again."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Right, and I draw the line at matching bracelets."

"Fine, shatter my dream." Sora chuckled.

Across the room, Kairi tried to roll onto her other side. She ran out of couch space though and ended up rolling over onto the floor with a thud. She immediately rolled again and sat upright, looking around wildly and half awake.

Riku snorted into his coffee as Kairi reoriented herself. She shot him a glare while dusting herself off and finally spotted Sora, wide awake.

"Hey!" She beamed, sidling over as though to play off that she hadn't just rolled off the couch and onto the floor. "We were worried about you."

"She was. I wasn't." Riku folded his hands behind his head.

Kairi looked from Sora to Riku and back to Sora. "You two aren't going back to hating each other are you? Because I don't think I can handle any more badgers in the lockers."

Sora shook his head slowly, "No, we're cool."

Kairi shrugged with relief, "Good."

Sora shifted, "So, how bad is the damage to the town?"

Kairi scrunched up her face. Riku threw back the rest of his coffee, "Mostly wind damage. A few houses will have to be taken down and rebuilt, but nothing compared to our island."

It certainly was unbelievable for the same storm that trashed their island had done comparatively little damage to the main island. Still, Sora was on pain killers and still groggy, so he wasn't up to questioning anything at the moment.

"What are you thinking about?" Kairi asked Riku after a minute.

Riku scratched his head, "Well…Have you ever considered—this is going to sound strange, but—Have you ever considered what's out there? Past our island, beyond the ocean, beyond the stars?"

Kairi's expression mirrored Sora's thoughts, "What?"

Riku looked embarrassed, "I mean, when we were in the Secret Place, I thought I saw something on the door."

Sora's attention perked up again, "It wasn't a keyhole was it?"

Riku looked at him, "Yeah, did you see it too?"

Sora blinked, "I thought I was hallucinating."

Riku rested his chin on the back of the chair, "Whatever it was, it got me thinking. What if we mounted some sort of excursion to seek out any other," He paused as though to think of a word, "worlds?"

Sora and Kairi exchanged looks. Kairi shrugged, taking the second cup of coffee Riku had left on the table. "That sounds like it could be fun."

Sora nodded, "Yeah, we'll probably have to hold off on that idea for a while though—" He eyed his leg treacherously.

The wheels were visibly turning in Riku's head already. "Yeah, we could build a boat or a raft or something."

Sora lifted a hand, "I call Captain!"

Riku sat up, "What? You can't 'call' Captain."

Sora shifted his shoulders, "You want to be Captain?"

Riku snorted, "I'm certainly more qualified than you, badger boy."

Sora seethed, "Right, if distracting Trent with shiny objects is a qualification."

"At least my hair would fit under a Captain's hat."

Kairi lifted her hands, "Okay, okay, let's not ruin this friendship before it can begin again. In order to decide who gets to be Captain, you two could race or something."

Riku snickered, "Any challenge, I've got you whipped."

Sora pouted, "We'll see."

"Loser."

"Jerk."

Kairi dropped her forehead against her palm, "Oy."


End file.
